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MAKDII I5>o KSSio IDIEID) K"©^ (Bo 17§>% 

FROM AN" ORIGINAL PAHTTING BYrLWAJTI, EXECUTED jfT 1712. 



THE LIFE AND DIARY 

OF THE REVEREND 

RALPH ERSKINE, A.M. 

tiff 

OF DUNFERMLINE, 

ONE OF THE 

FOUNDERS OF THE SECESSION CHURCH. 



By DONALD FRASER, 

MINISTER OF THE UNITED ASSOCIATE CONGREGATION, 
KENNOWAY, FIFESHIRE. 



EDINBURGH: 

PUBLISHED BY WILLIAM OLIPHANT & SON, 

7, SOUTH BRIDGE STREET. 
ND SOLD BY W. COLLINS AND D. ROBERTSON, GLASGOW 
HAMILTON, ADAMS, & CO. LONDON; W. M'COMB, BELFAST ; 
AND W. CURRY, JUN. & CO. DUBLIN. 



MDCCCXXXIV. 



J. THOMSON, Printer, Milne Square, Edinburgh. 



at 

f 

PREFACE. 



To detain the reader by a formal apology for add- 
ing to the numerous biographical works of the 
present age, a somewhat ample account of the 
Rev. Ralph Erskine, seems altogether unnecessary. 
The favourable reception given by the religious 
public, to the Life and Diary of his elder brother 
Ebenezer, serves to justify the sentiments ex- 
pressed in the Preface to that work, regarding 
the claims of the Founders of the Secession 
Church to the attention of posterity ; and having, 
in the same prefatory address, intimated his in- 
tention, with the permission of providence, to pub- 
lish a memoir of Ralph, the author has endeavour- 
ed, as speedily as suited his convenience, to re- 
deem his pledge. 

Whatever deficiences may attach to the present 
volume, it is impossible to plead the excuse, that 
it has been got up within too circumscribed a pe- 



iv 



PREFACE. 



riod. More than ten years have elapsed, since 
the writer attentively perused and prepared a com- 
plete list of references to the whole of that portion 
of Ralph Erskine's Diary, which he has procured ; 
and in three separate communications that ap- 
peared in the Christian Monitor for 1824 and 
1825, he exhibited an outline, corresponding, in 
part, to the first four chapters of this work. The 
substance of those communications is still retained, 
while subsequent researches have led to several 
important enlargements; and of the eight suc- 
ceeding chapters, no one has, in any shape, pre- 
viously issued from the press. 

This volume might perhaps have made its ap- 
pearance a little sooner, had not the author felt 
anxious to improve his narrative, by the materials 
he expected to find, in those sheets of Mr. Er- 
skine's Diary, which are unfortunately missing. 
The late Rev. Thomas Clark, M. D., who, in 
the year 1751, was ordained pastor of the Associate 
Congregation of Ballibea^ Ireland, and in 1764 
was missioned by the Presbytery of Down to " the 
province of New York," America, happened to 
carry part of the record with him to that country. 
In a letter still extant, addressed to the Rev. John 
Fraser ? Auchtermuchty, bearing date, " Philadel- 
phia, Oct. 27, 1785," the Doctor thus acknow- 
ledges the fact; " I have the pleasure of possess- 
ing the worthy Mr. Ralph Erskine's Diary, in 
his own short-hand, which I learned at college." 
Mr, Fraser, in his reply to that pious minister, 



PREFACE. 



requested the favour, that by some proper con- 
veyance, he would return this interesting relic to 
Mr. Erskine's descendants in Scotland ; but what- 
ever may have been the cause, it was never re- 
ceived. Upwards of twelve years ago, I myself 
despatched a letter to a friend, to be shown to 
a son of Dr. Clark's, who holds the honourable 
office of a judge in the county of Washington, 
earnestly soliciting his attention to this affair. 
Judge Clark, in consequence, had the kindness to 
examine his father's papers, and to send to this 
country a manuscript, which he supposed might 
be the one wanted ; but, on its arrival in 1821, it 
was found, though a genuine short-hand produc- 
tion of Ralph Erskine's, to consist merely of a 
number of his sermons sewed together. Renewed 
efforts have been employed to recover the Diary, 
but hitherto without success.* 

If this venerated father commenced the keep- 
ing of a Diary in youth, and persisted in the prac- 
tice to the close of life, the parts wanted must be 
of great extent. The author, however, has the 
satisfaction to state, that the portion now in his 

* For the direction of individuals to whom, by any possibility, 
an opportunity of recovering this valued MS. may present it- 
self, it may be proper to mention distinctive marks of the por- 
tion in our possession, with which the rest is probably uniform. 
It is in small 4to ; and one ignorant of the Stenography, could 
distinguish it by this circumstance, that each page exhibits, in- 
termixed with the close short-hand-writing, the names of the 
successive months, and days of the week, in common hand. 



vi 



PREFACE. 



hands, which was possessed by Mr. and Mrs. 
Henry Erskine of Falkirk, and with which he was 
favoured by his aunt, the late Miss Erskine, is 
considerably ample. It comprises all the entries 
from September 22, 1731, to December 23, 1739, 
and consists of sixty-seven pages in short-hand 
characters. So close and comprehensive is the 
writing that, on exact calculation, each page is 
found to include as many words as are contained 
in nearly eight pages of this volume, and conse- 
quently, the whole is equal to at least five hun- 
dred of such pages. Within the compass of these 
massy sixty-seven pages, the industrious journalist 
has comprehended so many notices of his own che- 
quered lot and experience, and so many state- 
ments illustrative, however undesignedly, of the 
leading features of his character, that in this as- 
pect, one is almost entitled to conclude, that no 
defect remains to be felt. The loss of those brief 
allusions to the occurrences of the times, which 
he no doubt recorded in that part of the journal 
that is wanting, may be justly lamented ; yet our 
regret admits of some alleviation from the circum- 
stance, that the private records of the two brothers, 
most happily, are not contemporaneous, but written 
entirely within the limits of two distinct periods. 
Ebenezer's Diary, commencing in 1707, extends 
to somewhat beyond 1722 ; and after the interval 
of a few years, the portion of Ralph's Journal in 
our possession, comes in to our assistance at the 
close of 1731, and aids our inquiries respecting 



PREFACE. 



Vll 



the ecclesiastical affairs of more than eight event- 
ful years that succeeded. 

The unhappy representation of Ralph Erskine's 
Diary, contained in an account of him, published 
about forty years since, is calculated to damp all 
Hope of useful instruction from this source. " Our 
author," it is alleged, " left no written memoirs of 
the religious part of his life. True, indeed, he left 
a Diary behind him, from which something of this 
kind was expected: but, upon perusing it, it was 
found to contain only some domestic incidents 
and providential occurrences, the publication of 
which would serve no valuable end."* Never- 
theless, it may be confidently affirmed, that this 
statement must have been hazarded by one, who 
had given the record in question nothing more 
than a cursory glance? and that it is fitted, though 
unintentionally, to produce a false impression. 
That the Diary does abound in details of " do- 
mestic incidents and providential occurrences," 
and that the publication of the whole, or of any 
large portion of it, continuously r , would serve no va- 
luable end," is readily conceded. Let it be ob- 
served, however, that the reverend writer him- 
self gives it the title of Passages of my Life and 
Experience; and let any person, possessed of 
integrity and common sense, first peruse the no- 

* Rev. Ralph Erskine's Works, in 10 vols. 8vo. Falkirk, 
1754, vol. i. p, xviii. 



viii 



PREFACE. 



merous extracts from it that enrich the pages of 
this volume, and then judge, whether there was 
sufficient ground to assert, that it contains no 
" memoirs of the religious part of his life." The 
truth is, that it at once illustrates the history of 
various public transactions in which he bore a part, 
and affords a most edifying view of his own re- 
ligious experience and deportment. It lays open 
the secrets of his heart, and discloses the hidden 
springs of his external appearances as a Christian 
and a minister. The confessed intermixture of 
" domestic incidents and providential occurrences," 
while it proves that the record was intended ex- 
clusively, or almost exclusively, for his own use, 
invests the information communicated respecting 
his Christian experience with an evidence and 
a charm, which it could never have derived from 
the most ample and correct delineations, avowedly 
or apparently prepared for meeting the public 
eye. To the pious and discerning reader, the 
Diary of Ralph, in point of interest and utility, 
will, in all probability, appear equal to that of 
Ehenezer. Nor is it unimportant to state, that the 
selection now made exactly comports with the 
views long since expressed by Henry, his eldest 
son, who, in a letter to his mother, under date 
Jan. 15, 1753, thus communicates his mind ; ci As 
it now seems to be fully resolved, that my father's 
writings be printed in folio, I do think it will be 
very proper that there be some short history or 
sketch given of my father's life and character, at 



PREFACE. 



the beginning of the book; which might, in some 
measure, le collected out of his Diary, though the 
Diary itself should not be published." 

In taking advantage of this Diary, a mode of 
proceeding has been adopted similar to the plan 
observed in respect to Ebenezer's. The materials 
eligible for publication, are interspersed almost as 
fully as could be done with propriety throughout 
the whole narrative of his life ; while the remain- 
ing pieces of this selected portion, which otherwise 
must have been all but entirely suppressed, are col- 
lected by a principle of arrangement, which, not- 
withstanding the deviation from the strict order 
of time, appears sufficiently natural. In this 
view, the ninth chapter of the present volume, 
with part of the tenth, forms a counterpart to the 
second and third, in the Life and Diary of Eben- 
ezer. There is another point in which the at- 
tentive reader of both will probably recognise a 
resemblance. No attempt has been made to re- 
concile the giddy to a life of piety, by giving a 
partial and unfair exhibition of the exercises and 
experience of these distinguished brothers. In 
this state of imperfection and mortality, as ap- 
pears from the details of sacred biography itself, 
painful conflicts and deep abasements are no less 
incident, even to the eminently pious, than re- 
viving hopes and unutterable joys. The superior 
pleasantness of wisdom's ways must be steadfastly 
maintained, and in selecting extracts from the 



X 



PREFACE. 



unstudied memoranda of the private records of 
Christians, skilful discrimination is requisite ; but 
to represent the children of wisdom as almost en* 
tirely exempt from difficulty, temptation, and 
sorrow, or as generally possessing, with scarcely 
any intermission, the consolations arising from a 
vigorous faith, and from the consciousness of un- 
interrupted progress in the path of righteousness, 
is neither consistent with fact, nor really condu- 
cive to the advancement of vital religion. On 
this topic, the remarks contained in the " Adver- 
tisement," prefixed to the Rev. Thomas Adam's 
" Private Thoughts on Religion," deserve an at- 
tentive perusal. 

While the author lias drawn the most of his 
illustrations of Mr. Erskine's life and character 
from his Diary, he has availed himself no^: only 
of a numerous collection of his note-books, letters, 
and detached papers ; but also of whatever else he 
could any where find, recorded in print or manu- 
script, or transmitted by credible tradition, that 
seemed calculated to render this work more com- 
plete in itself, and more agreeable and useful to 
the reader. 

Notwithstanding the close general similitude 
which the two reverend brothers bear to one an- 
other, each is distinguished by his own charae- 
teristical mode of thinking, feeling, and writing. 
The two Diaries, therefore, even so far as they 
relate to personal experience, exhibit a pleasing 



PREFACE. 



xi 



diversity. The two narratives, also, it is pre- 
sumed, will be found as distinct from each other 
as could reasonably have been anticipated. Though 
manv of the same transactions, civil and ecclesias- 
tical, referred to in the Life of Ebenezer, are ne- 
cessarily introduced in the Life of Ralph, — re- 
petitions, as far as possible, are avoided, and new 
circumstances and illustrations presented. Seve- 
ral interesting topics, briefly touched at in the 
preceding volume, are now more fully explained; 
in particular, the correspondence that took place 
betwixt the Associate Presbytery and the celebrat- 
ed George Whitefield, with regard to which 
much misconception has long prevailed. The 
present publication is so constructed as to be quite 
intelligible to readers that have not seen the Life 
of Ebenezer; while one who has previously perused 
that work, including the Memoir of the Rev. 
Henry Erskine of Chirnside, will no doubt possess 
additional advantages in the perusal of this. 

In both volumes, the writer has endeavoured 
to blend inflexible adherence to truth and justice 
with the spirit of Christian charity and candour. 
It has been more his aim, he trusts, to promote 
the general interests of religion, than to advance 
the cause of any particular denomination or class. 
Whatever partiality he may naturally feel for the 
first ministers of the Secession, he has no allowed 
inclination to palliate their faults ; yet a just esteem 
for their personal worth, and attachment to the 
sacred principles of truth and liberty they nobly 



xii 



PREFACE. 



defended 3 imperatively require him to repel the 
unmerited thrusts they have suffered, however 
high or imposing the quarters whence those at- 
tacks have proceeded. If certain peculiarities in 
the case of Ralph Erskine have obliged him to 
enter somewhat particularly into a detail of cir- 
cumstances bearing on one or two delicate and 
contested points, he has studied to make his state- 
ments impartial, and to give no just cause of of- 
fence. Let no reader, however, expect him to 
mingle in the clamour and turmoil of stormy dis- 
putes, in which, in the character of a biographer, 
he has no concern. Though fully alive to the 
importance of the contest betwixt the friends 
and opposers of ecclesiastical establishments, and 
though truly grieved for the hostile attitude which 
churchmen and Seceders have assumed towards 
each other, and for the bitterness which, with 
some honourable exceptions, has not a little cha- 
racterized, on both sides, the agitation of the con- 
troversy,^ — he feels that he should only act an of- 
ficious and a foolish part, were he, when " passing 
by, to meddle with strife belonging not to him," 
as the humble writer of the following pages. He 
has, therefore, made it a fixed rule, to go straight 
forward in the way, faithfully narrating the parti- 
culars of his great-grandfather's life, just as if 
he had never heard of such a controversy — un- 
swayed by anticipations of the purposes to which 
any of those particulars may possibly be applied 
by disputants on either side, and consoling himself 



PREFACE* 



with the reflexion, that he is not responsible for 
any illegitimate or overstrained conclusions they 
may think proper to deduce. 

In quotations from the Diary and other manu- 
scripts, as well as from printed works, uniform 
fidelity is shown. Even slight verbal alterations 
have been very sparingly made. The reasonable 
liberties taken with the Diary of Ebenezer, as 
particularly acknowledged, * are not exceeded in 
the present work. Condensation, too, has been 
kept in view ; and to avoid tediousness, beside 
many pious extracts from the Diary parallel to 
those introduced, a variety of other useful mate- 
rials has been withheld. It did not, however, 
seem right entirely to omit short notices of several 
Scotch ministers of the last century, whom the 
subject of this narrative numbered among his inti- 
mate friends, and regarding whose character and 
history, some particulars have been gleaned from 
his elegies and note-books. Another Wodrow, 
it may be hoped, will arise, to erect a monument 
sacred to the memory of excellent ministers and 
Christians of the eighteenth century, similar to 
that elaborate structure, which perpetuates the 
names of those worthy men who flourished amid 
the hardships and persecutions of the preceding 
age ; and in the meanwhile, ought not every writer 
in biography to seize opportunities he may possess 

* Life and Diary of Rev. Eben. Erskine, Pp. 81, note ; 294, 
note, 

b 



PREFACE. 



of contributing fragments of authentic and rare in- 
formation, which that future historian may find in 
some degree available, in compiling his extensive 
and enduring work ? 

This volume, like the former, is concluded with 
a short Appendix, composed chiefly of documents 
illustrative of the text. Like that too, it is em- 
bellished with an engraved Portrait of its subject, 
in which the name is a fac-simile of his writing. 
Whoever compares the engraving prefixed to the 
folio edition of Ralph Erskine's Works with the 
frontispiece of this volume, will perceive a consi- 
derable difference. The first is obviously derived 
from a likeness of him taken when advanced years 
had impaired his youthful comeliness, and yet im- 
pressed more deeply on his countenance the traits 
of wisdom and bland authority. The last is taken 
from a painting by Waitt, an artist of eminence ; 
which was executed when Mr. Erskine was only 
twenty-seven years old, and has been in possession 
of Mr. Fisher's family for several generations. 
According to tradition, Ralph Erskine's stature 
was above the middle size, his make rather slender 
than stout, and his features pleasing and at- 
tractive. 

The author feels it alike a duty and a pleasure 
to acknowledge his numerous obligations to friends, 
both the living and the dead. He owes much to 
his own honoured Father, from whom he learned 
a great proportion of those anecdotes, respecting 



PREFACE- 



wliich no authority is expressly referred to. He 
owes scarcely less to that venerable man of God, 
tlie Rev. Johx Brown of Whitburn, who for a 
series of years preceding his death, favoured him 
with frequent communications relative both to 
Ebenezer and Ralph Erskine : and whose affec- 
tionate intreaties first produced the conviction, 
that duty required him to improve the facilities 
which providence had given for commemorating 
the worth of these good men. and extending the 
benefit of their example. His acknowledgments 
must also be renewed to Mr. Johx Birrell, Kin- 
nesswood, whose manuscript entitled " Pious Me- 
morials of the parish of Portmoak," as well as an- 
other relating to the ministry of Ebenezer there, 
has furnished a few circumstances for the Life of 
Ralph. To several descendants of Ebenezer, re- 
siding in Glasgow and its vicinity, he is under 
great obligations: in particular, to Mr. Walter 
Wardlaw, whose active friendship has repeatedly 
presented him with valuable materials. To the 
politeness of the Rev. Peter Chalmers of Dun- 
fermline, he stands indebted for access to the re- 
cords of Dunfermline Presbytery : and Dr. John 
Gibb of that town has kindly favoured him not 
merely with interesting information relative to his 
worthy grand-uncle, the Rev. James Wardlaw^ 
but with the loan of an old manuscript written by 
Mr. David Infflis, many years an elder, and some- 
time precentor and session clerk in Ralph Erskine's 
congregation. This manuscript, containing an 



PREFACE. 



accurate abridgment of whatever was important 
in the records of the kirk-session of Dunfermline 
during the period of Mr. Erskine's ministry, has 
supplied a number of facts, equally curious and 
useful. The cordial thanks of the author are also 
due to the Rev. Dr. Kidston of Glasgow, clerk 
to the United Associate Synod, who, with his ac- 
customed alacrity in well-doing, granted him the 
use of the original records of the Associate Pres- 
bytery and Synod. He might justly specify, in 
fine, the services rendered by Dr. John Brown 
of Edinburgh, Robert Plenderleath, Esquire, 
and several other individuals, including his own 
surviving relatives, — of which he desires ever to 
retain a grateful recollection. 

May it please the God of our fathers, whose 
mercy endureth for ever, to pardon the imperfec- 
tions attending this small memorial of departed 
excellence, and by the influence of his Holy Spi- 
rit, attending its perusal, to render it subservient 
to his own glory, and to the spiritual advantage of 
the reader ! 

D, F. 

Kenxoway, 

November 11, 1833, 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER L 

Mr. Erskine's Birth — Elementary Education — Attending 
the University of Edinburgh — Attention to Studies — 
Various appearances of early Piety — Notes and Opinion 
of Sermons he heard — Letter to the Rev. Mr. Shaw — .Con- 
duct as Tutor in the Family of Colonel Erskine — Ex- 
tract from the Colonel's Letter — License — Calls to Tul- 
liallan and Dunfermline— Ordination. ...... 21 

CHAPTER II. 

State of the parish of Dunfermline — Mr. Erskine's studious 
and devotional temper — Faithfulness and success in the 
discharge of his ministry — Preaching — Administering the 
Lord's Supper — Catechizing and visiting his people — At- 
tention to the young, to the sick, to criminals, to the dis- 
consolate — Letters to Mrs. Sarah Fisher and Mrs. Mary 
Stuart — Exercise of discipline — Particulars regarding his 
Session — Care of the poor — Presbytery's approval of his 
labours — Solemn address to his hearers 45 

CHAPTER III. 

Death of Rev. Thomas Buchanan, his first Colleague — Fu- 
neral Sermon — Mr. Erskine unanimously chosen to suc- 
ceed him as first 3Iinister— Differences regarding the set- 
tlement of the second charge — Presentation to Mr. Chris- 
tie by the Heritors, offensive to the people and the Pres- 
bytery, and laid aside — Proceedings of the Presbytery and 
the Commission of Assembly — The Rev, James Wardlaw 
harmoniously chosen, and admitted — Notices of Mr. 



Xviii 



CONTENTS, 



Wardl aw— Concord of the two Colleagues— Esteemed 
Co-presbyters and Correspondents— Messrs George Mair, 
Culbert, Hogg, Plenderleath, Bathgate, Thomas Mair, 
and others. 95 



CHAPTER IV. 

Mr. Erskine's conduct with regard to the public transac- 
tions of his time— His reasons for declining the Oath of 
Abjuration in all its forms— His Loyalty, as expressed at 
the Death of Queen Anne, and Accession of George I — - 
Opposition to the Pretender's interest, and appropriate 
instructions to his hearers during the Rebellion 17 15 — > 
Early and persevering zeal for the Doctrines of Grace- 
Attention to Mr. Boston's Letter to Mr. Hogg, respecting 
the Act of Assembly condemning the Marrow of Modern 
Divinity — Various trials, efforts, and publications, relative 
to the Marrow Controversy — Vindication of our Lord's 
Divinity against Arian Errors 148 

chapter v. 



Brief notice of Mr. Erskine's domestic condition — Parti- 
culars of his conduct regarding the Secession — Disap- 
probation of a violent settlement at Kinross — Letter to 
a Glasgow merchant on that topic — Various expressions 
of sympathy with the Four Brethren — Adopts their tes- 
timony before the Commission in August 1 736 — Formally 
accedes to the Associate Presbytery, February 1737 — 
His candour and moderation — Subsequent treatment by 
the General Assembly — Countenance and encouragement 
from his Session and People — Difference betwixt him 
and 3Ir, TTardlawwith respect to the Secession — His fre- 
quent prayers, disinterestedness, and confidence in God, 186 



CHAPTER VL 



Death of Mr. Vv'ardlaw — Notices of his Family — Appoint- 



CONTENTS, 



xix 



ffient of Successors to Messrs. Erskine and Wardlaw in 
the Parish Church of Dunfermline — Warnings by Mr. 
Erskine to his People — His activity at home and abroad 
—Services at the Ordinations of Messrs. John Hunter 
and John Swanston, and at Mr. Fisher's admission- 
Sermons before the Associate Presbytery and Synod — 
Solemn covenanting at Dunfermline — Mr. Erskine iti- 
nerates with other brethren in a variety of districts — 
Striking incidents relative to a meeting at Braidcraigs, 
near Edinburgh. , 245 

CHAPTER VII. 

The Ministers of the Secession attract the notice of good 
men in other countries — Letter from the Rev. Mr. Muir- 
head of America — ^Correspondence of Mr. John Wesley, 
Mr. Seward, and chiefly Mr. Whiteneld, with Mr. 
Ralph Erskine — Mr. "VThiteneld's singular interview 
with Mr. Erskine and the Associate Presbytery at Dun- 
fermline — Pacts of the conference collected from various 
documents by the different parties — Remarks. . . . 281 



CHAPTER VIII. 



Observations on the controversy respecting the Cambus- 
lang work — Mr. Erskine's share in that dispute — -Loyalty 
daring the Rebellion 17^5-6 — -His remarks on the flight 
of the Highland army — Imaginary interview with the 
Duke of Cumberland — His deportment, trials, and writ- 
ings, on occasion of the Breach iu the Associate Synod, 
1747 — Continued activity and usefulness — Disappoint- 
ment in not obtaining his son James for his colleague — 
Exercise under bodily afflictions- — Circumstances of his 
death and burial—His successors in the ministry at Dun- 

. fermline, .315 



XX 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Mr. Erskine's religious character illustrated by extracts 
from his Diary — His vital piety — Dependence on the Sa- 
viour and the Spirit — Habitual trust in God — Devout 
perusal of the Scriptures — Frequent and fervent prayer — 
Self-inquiry — Domestic and public exercises — Improve- 
ment of providential occurrences — Humility 300 



chapter x. 



Mr. Erskine's pious and exemplary conduct in the various 
relations of life — As a son — Husband — Father — Master — 
Grandfather — Brother — Friend and Companion — His can- 
did and forgiving spirit — Extensive benevolence. . . . 423 



CHAPTER XL 



Mr. Erskine's characteristics as a Preacher — Sincere — Pro- 
found — Evangelical — Practical — Experimental — Choice 
of texts — Gift of prayer — Instances of suecess — Publica- 
tions — Editions and Translations of his Sermons — Testi- 
monies to their excellence and utility — Gospel Sonnets, 
and other poetical works 475 

CHAPTER XII. 

Notices of Mr. Erskine's descendants — Children of the first 
family — Henry, minister of Falkirk — John of Leslie — 
Ebenezer, a student in Divinity — James of Stirling — 
Daughters — Margaret— Second family — Robert, a mer- 
chant and engineer, who died in America — Concluding 
remarks 514 



Appendix, 



541 



the 



LIFE AND DIARY 

OF THE 

REV. RALPH ERSKINE, A. M. 



CHAPTER I. 

Mr. Erskine's Birth — Elementary Education — Attending the 
University of Edinburgh — Attention to Studies — Various ap- 
pearances of early Piety — Notes and Opinion of Sermons he 
heard — Letter to the Rev. Mr. Shaw — Conduct as Tutor in the 
Family of Colonel Ershine — Extract from the ColoneVs Letter 
— License — Calls to Tulliallan and Dunfermline~-Qrdinatioii. 

Mr. Ralph Erskine was a son of the Rev. Henry 
Erskine of Chirnside, and Margaret Halcro, his second 
wife.* He was born at Monilaws, a village near Corn- 
hill, in the county of Northumberland, on the fifteenth 
of March 1685, O. S. ; and baptized on the fifth of April 
following, by the Rev. William Violand, sometime mi- 
nister at Ferry-port-on- Craig, Fifeshire.f 

In the eleventh year of his age, he sustained a very 
heavy loss, in the death of his pious and affectionate 

* See Memoir of Mr. Erskine of Chirnside, prefixed to the 
Life and Diary of the Rev. Ebenezer Erskine. 

■f- Ibid. Pp. 53, 54, the reader will find a slight notice of 
this Mr. Violand. 

B 



22 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



father, who departed this life the 10th August, 1696. 
It pleased God, however, to render this affecting be- 
reavement conducive to his spiritual benefit. His va- 
luable mother, too, was mercifully spared for many years ; 
and he experienced in early youth, as well as in the 
succeeding periods of life, the advantage resulting from 
the company, counsels, and example of his brother Eben- 
ezer, who was upwards of four years older than himself. 

From the pleasing indications of piety and talent ex- 
hibited by Ralph, it was determined to give him an 
education adapted to the sacred office. Accordingly, 
after acquiring the elements of literature, partly at Chirn- 
sicle, and partly, as appears from a passage of his Diary, 
to be quoted immediately, in one or more of the neigh- 
bouring towns, he entered the University of Edinburgh 
in November 1699, in the fifteenth year of his age ; 
where, during four successive sessions, he studied lan- 
guages and philosophy, and then proceeded to the study 
of theology. 

The Professors, or Regents, as they were called, in 
that University, were generally the same at this time 
as during the period of Ebenezer's academical attend- 
ance.* Charles Erskine, however, afterwards Lord 
Tinwald, was chosen Regent in November 1700, after the 
death of John Row. Mr. John Goodale, an eminent lin- 
guist, succeeded Mr. Alexander Rule in the Professorship 
of Hebrew in 1 702. Mr. John Cumming, the first regius 
Professor, was appointed to the Church History chair 
that same year. Dr. George Campbell, Professor of 
Divinity, who died 1701, was succeeded by the Rev. 
George Meldrum, minister of the Tron Church, a po- 



* See the Life of Eben. Erskine, Pp. 64, 65. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



23 



pular preacher, and a man of distinguished integrity and 
humility; whilst, in May 1703, Dr. Gilbert Rule, Prin- 
cipal, was succeeded by the celebrated William Car- 
stairs.* 

The subject of this memoir seems to have duly appre- 
ciated his literary advantages in early years, and applied 
with great modesty and ardour to the acquisition of know- 
ledge. A small memorandum-book, still extant, con- 
sisting of about a hundred pages, written mostly during 
his first and second sessions at College, bears ample tes- 
timony to the diligence and accuracy with which he 
studied Latin, Greek, and Logic. It contains a variety 
of elaborate exercises in both those languages, with a 
system of Logic in the Latin tongue, dictated by Pro- 
fessor William Scott, all executed with much neatness.f 
The same manuscript includes also some other small 
juvenile productions, worthy of a boy endowed with a 
lively fancy, and an affectionate heart ; chiefly copies of 
letters, addressed to his favourite school-fellows, David 
Home, Alexander Littlejohn, James Edwards, William 
Hume, and others. Some of them are written in Latin, J 
others in English ; some in prose, others in verse. In 
one of his poetical effusions, which extends to more than 
eighty lines, he twits his companion at great length, for 

* Bower's Hist, of the Univ. of Edinburgh, vol. i. Pp. 318— 
385. 

•(-At the close of this System, the young writer gives the fol- 
lowing account of it: — u A doctissimo necnon liter atissimo D. 
Gulielmo Scot. Phil. Professore dictata, et a me Radolpho Areskinc^ 
summa qua potui, sed non qua debui, diligentia conscripta. Anno 
salutis humance millesimo septingentesimo, mensis autem Decembris 
23 die. 'Agxiv qui dederit — dabit et Hie nXo$." 

J A specimen of his Latin letters may be seen in the Appen- 
dix, No. I. 



•24 



LIFE AND DIARY CF 



affirming that he could not write verses, when, after all. 
he produced better lines than himself ; and he concludes 
it with what he calls a Litany, which is as follows : — 

Unto more gifts, O may you still attain ; 

May you enjoy a great poetic vein ; 

In love of that that's good may you remain ; 

Hay no ill thing thy reputation stain ; 

But still continue honest, good, and plain ; 

May bounties on you plentifully rain ; 

May you, all heavenly, earthly blessings gain ; 

May these my prayers ne'er be in vain ! 

The same turn of thought and qualities of style, if 
may be remarked, which distinguish an individual's youth- 
ful compositions, often continue to characterize his writ- 
ings in maturer years. These early productions of Ralph 
Erskine, accordingly, in some degree foreshowed the 
vivacity and the quaintness which afterwards appeared in 
his discourses and sonnets. 

It is particularly satisfactory to find that, in the morning 
of life, he was the subject of strong religious impressions. 
The following anecdote, which is credibly related, dis- 
covers the tenderness of his conscience, and his delight 
in prayer. " When a little boy at school, to which he 
went from his father's house by the summit of a hill, he 
and his school-fellows amused themselves by rolling 
stones from the rising ground. One day, going to school, 
and diverting himself thus, he was seized with a violent 
pain in his arm. His conscience immediately smote him 
with the neglect of prayer that morning. He, without 
delay, returned home, shut himself up in his closet, and 
confessed his sin, resolving upon and promising reforma- 
tion ; and prayed that God would be pleased to pardon 
him, and heal his arm, which, before he had well finished, 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



was perfectly recovered. This, 5 ' it is added, " endeared 
the throne of grace to Ralph, and induced him ever after 
to pour out all Ins complaints, and cast all his cares on 
God, who is the hearer of prayer,"* Without imagining 
that a miracle was wrought, or even that a very extra- 
ordinary interposition took place in his favour, it is net 
irrational to suppose that he felt his arm relieved far 
sooner than he had expected, and that its restored vigour, 
so speedily following his prayer, was not unworthy of 
his notice. 

Prayer was, without question, an exercise which, in the 
days of youth, he found exceedingly pleasant, and highly 
valued as a means of obtaining the blessings of grace to 
the soul, as well as mercies adapted to the body. On 
one of the boards of an early note-book, he put on re- 
cord the following petitions :— 

" Lord put thy fear in my heart. Let my thoughts 
be holy, and let me do for thy glory, all that I do. 
Bless me in my lawful work. Give a good judgment 
and memory — a firm belief in Jesus Christ, and an as- 
sured token of thy love." 

The first season of his attendance at the University 
Was marked by a striking instance of the divine good- 
ness in preserving his life amid the most imminent peril. 
At that time, in February 1700,f the Parliament Square 
was almost entirely destroyed by a fire, not unlike the 
memorable fire which took place in the same quarter in 

* Portmoak Manuscript, by Mr. John Birrell. The author 
states, that this anecdote was told him by the Rev. Thomai 
Clarke, M. D, 

j- Some particulars of this disaster, v/ith pious reflections on 
it, may be seen in the Memoirs ofElizabeih West, Pp. 127 — 133, 
New edition, 1825. 



26 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



November 1824 ; and happening to lodge in a house 
belonging to that square, he narrowly escaped being 
burned to death, having forced his way through the flames 
with a number of his books. To this calamitous burn- 
ing he alludes in a letter bearing date " 1700," addressed 
to one of his young companions in the country ; — " I 
suppose," says he, " it will be needless for me to give you 
an account of the furious conflagration that lately hap- 
pened in this place, for you will have heard sufficient 
thereof already." The following extract from his Diary, 
written many years posterior to the merciful deliverance 
he then experienced, shows the spiritual improvement he 
made of it, and of several other occurrences, including 
the decease of his venerable father, alluded to above. 
It forms part of a record of his exercise, on a day of 
private humiliation and prayer, observed November 22, 
1731, being exactly a year after the death of the first 
Mrs. R. Erskine. 

Having read the 8th and 9th chapters of Ezra, he en- 
gaged in solemn prayer, in which " I remembered," says 
he, " the many instances of the Lord's favour to me, and 
my rebellions against him." " I began," he continues, 
" with his mercies to me in the womb and on the breast, 
in England, in my infancy ; and in Scotland, in Rivelaw, 
and Chirnside, and Ayton, and Dunse, and Edinburgh, 
and Portmoak, and Culross, and Dunfermline. I took 
special notice of the Lord s drawing out my heart towards 
him at my father s deaths and yet how early my rebellions 
against him began to work. I took special notice also 
of what took place upon my first going to Edinburgh to 
the College, in the burning of the Parliament Close ; 
and how mercifully the Lord preserved me, when he 
might have taken me away in my sin, amidst the flames 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



27 



of that burning, which I can say my own sins helped to 
kindle. I took notice of the kindness of God in pro- 
viding for me since my father's death, preserving my 
mother, and what he did in ordering good company for 
me in Edinburgh, and how he manifested himself to be 
God unto me ; and also his kindness manifested at Port- 
moak, of which I was made to say, he pitied me yonder 
at the hill-side, and yonder on the top of the mountain, 
and yonder in the valley, and yonder in the east room, 
and yonder in the west room, and yonder in the low 
room, when he made my heart to go after him. And 
yet I acknowledged my fearful sinning against that Holy 
Spirit that was leading me from time to time." 

Some religious and moral reflections, recorded in the 
juvenile memorandum-book already noticed, seem still 
further to corroborate the fact, that in early years his 
mind was imbued with sentiments of piety. Of these the 
following specimen may suffice : — 

" Where God putteth to his hand, there is no man so 
mighty, no beast so fierce, no sea so deep, that can re- 
sist his power. 5 ' " Divinity cannot be defined. Simonides, 
the more he studied to know God, the harder still it 
seemed to him." " Without the understanding of the 
will of God by his word, our sight is blindness, our un- 
derstanding ignorance, our wisdom foolishness, and our 
devotion devilishness." " God suffers not man to have 
the knowledge of future things ; for, if he had prescience 
of his prosperity, he would be careless, or understanding 
of his adversity, he would be senseless. Things which 
it pleases God to keep secret, ought not to be searched ; 
and things he has revealed ought not to be denied ; lest, 
with regard to the former, we be found indulging a cri- 



28 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



minal curiosity, and, with regard to the latter, a damnable 
ingratitude." * 

" Take away discretion, and virtue will become vice." 
" The first step to virtue, is to love virtue in another 
man." " True peace is to make peace with virtue, and 
war with vice." " Virtue is a stranger on earth, but a 
citizen in heaven." 

" Heaven is the habitation of the elect, the throne of 
the Judge, the resort of the saved, the seat of the Lamb, 
the fulness of light, the inheritance of the just, and the 
reward of the faithful." " The celestial glory comprises 
wonderful serenity, full security, eternal felicity ."f 

These detached sentences, however, are not the only 
memorial of his early piety. A more remarkable evi- 
dence of his assiduity in acquiring and preserving reli- 
gious knowledge, is supplied by upwards of twenty 
volumes, most of which are still in the hands of his des- 
cendants, written chiefly betwixt 1703 and 1709. A 
few of them are in common hand, but the greater part 
in ^hort-hand characters. They contain extracts from 
the religious books he read, and a few transcripts of old 
manuscript sermons, as one or two of Mr. James Guthrie's 
of Stirling, and of his own father's ; but consist principally 
of notes of discourses preached in his own hearing. A 
few of these were committed to paper after the conclusion 
of public worship, and discover a memory uncommonly 
retentive. Most of them, however, conformably to a 
prevailing custom among devout people of that age, were 

* Quae Deus occulta esse voluit, non sunt scrutanda ; quseque 
manifesta fecit, non sunt neganda : ne et in illis illicite curiosi, 
et in istis, damnabiliter inveniamur ingrati." 

•f " Jn gloria ccelesti mira serenitas, plena secuiitas, seterna 
felicitas." 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



29 



Written at church during the time of delivery.* The 
volumes may contain sermons by nearly a hundred 
clergymen of the Church of Scotland, who discharged 
then 1 office in Edinburgh, Fife, Perthshire, and other 
parts of the country. It was his practice to state at the 
head of each discourse, the opinion he had formed of its 
merits. Some of them he characterizes thus : — " So and 
so." — " In some places, not sound." — " Somewhat legal, 
I think." — " Somewhat deficient." — " Good, but I think 
defective." — " Not very good, no word of Christ." 

Yet, of by far the greater portion, he expresses highly 
favourable sentiments. It is truly refreshing to see, that 
the discourses of so many of the Scotish Clergy of that 
age, were calculated to meet the cordial approval of a 
young student of pious dispositions, and evangelical views. 
A discourse by Mr. James Webster of Edinburgh, on a 
thanksgiving day, June 1708, for the preventing of a 
dreaded invasion, he calls " excellent indeed." He gives 
a similar eulogy to a sermon by Mr. Mathieson, on the 
same occasion ; and to a sermon by Mr. Hart, preached 
before the Synod of Edinburgh, from 1 Peter v. 2. 
High commendation is bestowed on a discourse deliver- 
ed by Mr. Dickson, at the ordination of Mr. Macvicar 
of the West Kirk, May 1st, 17C7; and on several dis- 
courses by Mr, Macvicar himself. He characterizes a 
sermon by Mr. Mitchell of Canongate, as " short, but 
substantial — had a sweet application." To a sermon by 
" an unknown Englishman/' from Ezek. xvi. 8, he gives 
the epithet, " good indeed." He heard, with much plea- 
sure, several sermons preached by his brother Ebenezer 
in Edinburgh, as well as Portmoak. He mentions his 

* Compare Lite of Elev. E. Erskiue Pp. GO, 70. 



30 LIFE AND DIARY OF 

cousin, Mr. William Erskine, of the Tron Church, and 
a Mr. More, whom he calls " my good-brother." Re- 
peated and very favourable notice is taken of Mr. J ohn 
Shaw of Leslie, afterwards of Leith ; he heard this wor- 
thy man, when presiding at the ordination of Mr. Currie, 
at Kinglassie, September 28, 1705. At the administra- 
tion of the Lord's Supper at Abernethy, 1705, Mr. 
William MoncriefF, of Largo, delivered from Ephes. ii. 
17, " a noble sermon, before the action sermon." He 
heard 44 an extraordinary sermon" by Mr. Alexander 
Hamilton, on a Tuesday after the sacrament at Culross. 
He describes Mr. James Hogg of Carnock's discourses 
as " good and searching ;" and those of Mr. Patrick 
Plenderleath, of Saline, as 44 sweet, and good indeed" — 
44 excellent, great, and good." High encomiums are 
given also to Mr. James Cuthbert, of Culross. But the 
productions of none are spoken of in warmer terms than 
those of Mr. Cuthbert's colleague, Mr. George Mair, 
whose evangelical ministry he enjoyed during the whole 
period of his residence in that parish. One of his ser- 
mons, for instance, he styles 44 good gospel indeed ;" 
another, 44 a gospel sermon, great and good ;" and a third, 
44 a most excellent, sweet, and eloquent sermon." Amongst 
this beloved pastor's discourses, he has one on 2 Cor. 
iii. 6, preached at Kirkcaldy, before the Synod of Fife ; 
another, from Hos. xi. 5, 6, delivered on the first Sabbath 
of January, 1707, when a French invasion was dreaded ; 
a third, on a day of thanksgiving, for a victory over the 
French in the year 1709; and a fourth, from Psalm v. 
10, 11, 44 after the articles of the Union were passed." 

A few of the sermons were preached by Messrs. Hogg 
and Cuthbert, and other ministers, on the evening of 
Sabbath, and of other days, in Colonel Erskine's dwell- 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



31 



ing-house in Edinburgh. Instructions received even 
after diets of examination, are not quite omitted. In one 
of the volumes there is a long series of " Questions rela- 
tive to the Covenant of Grace, and the seals thereof, 
answered," — which appear to be the notes of an exercise 
of this kind, performed by Mr. Mair, and are eulogized 
as " clear, sweet, and excellent."* 

A large proportion of the discourses, the substance of 
which Mr. Erskine thus preserved, were delivered on 
sacramental occasions ; which seem to have deeply in- 
terested his susceptible mind, and occupied much of his 
devout attention. In those days, he repeatedly partook 
of the Lord's Supper, not only at Edinburgh, Culross, 
and Portmoak, but also in various other places, as Leith, 
Liberton, Colinton, Temple, Linlithgow, Bo'-ness, Alloa, 
Saline, Kinross, Strathmiglo, and Abernethy. Nor was 
it his object, merely to increase his stock of doctrinal 
knowledge. He was solicitous to experience the consoling 
and sanctifying power of the cross, and to enjoy fellow- 
ship with God in the institutions of his grace. This will 
appear, in some degree, from the following anecdote :f — 

When a student in divinity, he purposed to attend the 
Lord's Supper at Liberton, a few miles south from Edin- 
burgh. Residing at that time in Fife, he had, from haste, 
neglected his usual personal devotions. On his way from 
Leith, after crossing the Forth, he met a poor man, to 
whom, though unsolicited, he gave an alms. This man 
seemed much affected with this act of generosity, and 
thanked him sincerely. These circumstances brought to 
his benefactor's recollection that expression in Isaiah lxiv. 

* See Append. No. II. 

•f For this anecdote, the writer was indebted to the late Rev. 
John Brown of Whitburn. 



82 



LIFE AND DIARY CF 



1, " I am sought of them that asked ntt for me ; I am 
found of them that sought me not ;" and he said within 
himself, 6 what a mercy will it be, if the Lord meet me 
at Liberton, notwithstanding my omission of duty this 
morning V His soul was thus stirred up to earnest prayer 
for the gracious presence of God ; nor did he pray in 
vain, for, on that occasion, he was favoured with delight- 
ful tokens of the divine presence. 

The scriptural and pious discourses he heard in his 
youth, being sealed by the Holy Spirit, made deep and 
lasting impressions on his heart, and were often recollect- 
ed with pleasure and gratitude in future life. One re- 
markable instance of those permanent impressions is 
supplied by a letter of sympathy, which, in the year 1731, 
he wrote to an esteemed minister, when suffering personal 
and domestic affliction. It is as follows : — 

" To the Rev. John Shaw, 
Leith. 

Dunferm I in e , Ma rch 1 , 1731. 

" Rev. and dear Sir, 

Having heard several times by the 
bearer of your valetudinary circumstances, as also of 
your spouse her tenderness, [delicate state of health,] 
and having had some experience of trials myself several 
ways, and, I hope, of the Lord's pitying and supporting 
under them, I thought it not improper for me to signify 
my sympathy with you and your family, and to show 
my respect to you, particularly upon a ground which I 
suppose you know nothing of. It is now, I reckon, 
more than twenty-five years since I staid at Portmoak, 
and being under deep concern about eternal salvation, 
I had the occasion of hearing you preach at a sacrament 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



33 



in Ballingry on John xviii. 37, 6 Art thou a king then ? 
&c./ by the means whereof some beams of the glory of 
King Jesus shone on my heart, to the darkening of all 
mundane glory, and to the drawing out of my soul in 
insatiable breathings after him. And though I would 
fain hope he has since, from time to time, allowed further 
and clearer views of himself, and of his glorious mystery 
of salvation from sin and wrath, by free grace, running 
in the channel of the Mediator's blood, and of grace 
reigning through his righteousness unto eternal life, 
Rom. v. 21 ; yet, that being among the very first views 
that he remarkably vouchsafed, it is what I can never 
altogether forget ; and I thought the mentioning thereof 
to you now, in your present afflicted circumstances, 
might not be unseasonable, but contribute somewhat to 
your encouragement, among other instances, wherein, I 
hope, the Lord has owned your ministerial work, when 
you was in case for it. O how sovereign is our gracious 
Lord, in dispensing his blessings and treasures by the 
like of us, while we know nothing of it, and are but as 
mere earthen vessels and passive instruments, reserving 
(as to point of power) the whole activity and efficacy in 
the hands of his own eternal Spirit, Sir, some of the 
sudden fruits and effects of that fore-mentioned sermon 
of yours upon the Monday, I think the mountains at the 
back of my brother's house, will bear witness unto. But, 
ah ! many hills and mountains of another kind have I 
seen in my way since that time, and yet grace sometimes 
coming and skipping upon them. Of late also, the Lord 
hpjs brought me into the deep waters of affliction ; and 
yet, I think, he has let me see some of his wonders in 
the deep. 

May he graciously support and comfort you, and your 



34 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



spouse, under your troubles and afflictions ! — This, with 
my cordial respects to you and her, is from, 
Very Rev. dear Sir, 

Your very affectionate Servant and Brother 
in common office, 

Ralph Erskixe."* 

His brother Ebenezer having been ordained in May 
1703, Ralph appears to have spent great part of two 
summer vacations with him at Portmoak. He afterwards 
obtained the situation of tutor and chaplain in the house 
of Lieutenant- Colonel John Erskine, a man justly cele- 
brated for his piety and patriotism. The Colonel was 
third son of Henry, Lord Cardross, a nobleman distin- 
guished for his attachment to Presbyterian principles, 
and his sufferings in the cause of civil and religious li- 
berty. Both father and son took refuge in Holland, the 
great asylum of the persecuted, during the reigns of 
Charles II. and James II. The Colonel was himself a 
determined Whig and Presbyterian, and formed habits 
of intimacy with the refugees in that country, by whose 
efforts the Revolution of 1688 was effected. King 
William knew him well, fully appreciated his services 
in behalf of the Revolution, and honoured him with 
various marks of confidence and esteem. His cordial 
attachment to the true interests of the Church of Scot- 
land " continued unabated till the close of his life/' For 
nearly forty years he was regularly returned a member 
of the General Assembly by the Presbytery of Dun- 
fermline ; and during the whole period, he approved 

* This letter has formerly appeared in several publications, 
as in the Missionary Magazine, vol. iii. Pp. 354, 355. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



35 



himself a zealous advocate for the constitutional rights 
and privileges of the Christian people. In the year 
1735, he was the only ruling elder associated with three 
eminent clergymen, whom the Assembly appointed com- 
missioners to go to London for the purpose of applying 
to Parliament, and to the Crown, for a repeal of the 
act of the 10th Queen Anne, which restored to patrons 
in Scotland the power, of which the act 1690 had de- 
prived them.* His memory, on the whole, is entitled 
to a large share of those sentiments of veneration and 
gratitude, with which the names of the old, devout, and 
patriotic Presbyterians should never cease to be regarded. 
Colonel Erskine, it may be noticed, was father of John 
Erskine of Car dross, Professor of Scots Law in the 
University of Edinburgh, and author of the " Institutes 
of the Law of Scotland," and grandfather of the late 
Rev. Dr. John Erskine of Edinburgh, the eldest son of 
that learned Professor. 

From a comparison of several dates in his note-books, 
it seems probable that Ralph Erskine entered this worthy 
Colonel's family at, if not a little before, the commence- 
ment of the year 1705, and resided generally with it, 
till about the date of his license in 1709. The family 
being in the habit of spending a considerable proportion 
of the year at Edinburgh, he had the opportunity of im- 
proving the literary and religious advantages of the city, 
as well as of enjoying the sweet retirement of the country 
at the Colonel's seat near Culross, on the banks of the 
Forth. His own comfort or improvement, however, was 
not his sole object. The solicitude he felt to discharge 
with fidelity the whole duty that now devolved on him, 

* See Sir Henry MoncreifTs Account of the Life and Writ- 
ings of Dr. John Erskine, Pp. 6 — 8. 



36 



LIFE AND DIARY CF 



and to prove a blessing to his young and interesting 
charge, appears from the following memorandum, written 
by him on a blank page of a book for notes and extracts, 
dated 1705 : — 

" Betwixt sermons on Sabbath-day I was somewhat 
concerned with my case, and desired the Lord to pity 
me, and was helped in seeking this. I heard an excellent 
sermon in the afternoon. Monday morning I was enabled 
to pray with much sweetness ; Thursday afternoon also, 
but especially Friday afternoon, when being thoughtful 
about my concerns with respect to the family, and m}^ 
duty therein, and towards the children committed to my 
trust, I went to seek counsel of the Lord how to carry, 
and was made, with intentness of spirit, while praying, 
to seek that the Lord might give me a sight of my sins, 
and was made with affection to beg this, because I sought 
nothing but what was for his glory, and sought it for the 
sake of Christ, and because without it I could not glorify 
him either here or hereafter ; with sweetness, pleading 
also, because he had promised it in his gracious cove- 
nant, where he has promised the Spirit. And a little 
afterwards, I was made to beg that the Lord would 
assist and direct me in my carriage with respect to the 
family, and the children committed to my custody in 
some measure, praying that the Lord might take the 
glory of ail to himself, by helping me to my work, and 
profiting the children. And at both these times, I was 
made to bless and praise the Lord, because of his pro- 
mise of his help and Spirit. Even with delight and 
affection, I was helped to bless the Lord for his promised 
help, and for giving me ground to hope that he would 
assist me." 

Happy the tutor who discovers so earnest a solicitude 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKIXE. 37 

to promote the glory of God, and the real welfare of the 
young people whom he has undertaken to govern and 
instruct ; and who, conscious of his own insufficiency, 
implores counsel, strength, and success, from above ! 
Happy the children who are placed under the tuition of 
such a teacher, if they obtain wisdom to prize, and a 
heart to improve their invaluable privilege ! 

Colonel Erskine, we find, expressed entire satisfaction 
with the manner in which this conscientious tutor di - 
charged his trust. A lasting friendship resulted from 
the connexion ; and it would be wrong to suppress the 
following fragment of abetter, which, though owing to 
the loss of part of the sheet, the concluding sentences 
and the date are wanting, was obviously addressed to 
him by the Colonel during the period of his residence 
in the family : — 

" Sir, 

Though this base town doth, contrary to my 
inclination, make me omit my duty, [referring to his 
neglecting to reply to his letter] yet I do assure you, 
my dear Mr. Ralph, it shall never make me forget the 
many obligations I lie under to you, especially since I 
came from home. I beg earnestly the Lord may bless 
your good designs to my children ; and am fully per- 
suaded, the right impressions that children get of God, 
and the ways of God, when they are young, is a great 
help to them all their life. 

The Queen is recovered ; and I find, by the Jacobites 
rejoicing at it, that they do expect great things to be 
done for them this ensuing Parliament. But they may 
be disappointed, and the only way, I think, will be by 
prayer, to overcome our church and nation's enemies ; 



38 LIFE AND DIARY OF 

and if we will not defend ourselves by that, I know no 
other thing to do it with ; for there is neither gun, sword, 
nor cannon left in the Castle, but all carried to England. 

I have confessed my fault in not giving you a re- 
turn" 

Candidates for the Christian ministry, destined to sig- 
nal usefulness in the Church, are often deeply impressed 
with a conviction of their utter insufficiency for that 
arduous office. The subject of this narrative, notwith- 
standing his piety, talents, and diligence, discovered an 
almost overwhelming sense of personal unfitness and 
unworthiness ; and was, with difficulty, persuaded to 
make application for license to preach the gospel. Under 
these depressing thoughts, however, he met with kind 
sympathy and encouraging counsel from his brother 
Ebenezer, to whom, during his stay with Colonel Erskine, 
he repeated his visits as frequently as possible. At one 
time, it is said, Ralph went to the top of Bishop s Hill^ 
part of the Lomonds near Portmoak, to attempt preach- 
ing a sermon alone, and Ebenezer, having followed him 
and listened unobserved, was highly pleased with his ap- 
pearance, and returning home in good spirits, expressed 
himself thus jocosely to Mrs. Erskine, " I hope our calf 
will preach yet."* Nor was his brother the only minister 
that took a fatherly interest in this modest youth, and 
urged him to overcome his diffidence. He seems to have 
been much indebted, as well to the private friendship, as 
public ministrations, of Mr. George Mair; whose dis- 
courses we have found him so warmly commending. 



* ft was common, in this country, to call a bashful and diffi- 
dent young person a calf. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



39 



But the condescending and affectionate attentions of Mr. 
Mair's colleague, appear to have been particularly en- 
couraging and useful to Ralph. Hence, in the preface to 
his Elegy on Mr. Cuthbert, he states his obligations to 
that minister in the following terms : — 

" If it should be enquired, what concern I have beyond 
others to set forth his character, which none have hither- 
to attempted ? Sure he deserved this service from none 
more than myself, if it be considered that I not only 
had the privilege of being some time under his most 
evangelical ministry, and of enjoying his edifying con- 
versation, as well as his cheering and charming company, 
but also he was the person that first proposed seriously 
to me my entering upon trials for the ministry, the person 
that first urged and effectuated it in the Presbytery, the 
person that, being Moderator, pronounced my license to 
preach the gospel, and thereafter, first honoured me with 
his pulpit for that work, and the person that first laid his 
hand upon me, when I was ordained to the ministry by 
the imposition of the hands of the Presbytery, on which 
occasion he preached a very great and glorious sermon 
upon Ephes. iv. 11, 12, 13; besides many other things 
that I could mention, that lay me under great obligations 
to show a particular regard to his memory."* 

Cheered by the voice of friendship, and moved, we 
trust, by the gracious influence of the Divine Comforter, 
the Spirit of truth, the young man " took courage." To- 
wards the close of the year 1708, he was proposed to the 
Presbytery of Dunfermline, within whose bounds he re- 
sided, " to be entered on trials." In the minute of that 
court, bearing date November 25th, it is recorded that, 



* Works, vol. ii. p. 778, folio* 



40 



LIFE AND DIARY CF 



enquiry being made respecting his certificate, Messrs. 
Mair and Cuthbert stated that they had lately seen the 
Rev. Mr. Meldrum, Professor of Theology in Edinburgh; 
that, owing to his affliction, he could not give a written 
testimonial ; but that there was " no objection against his 
getting the same, whenever Mr. Meldrum should be in 
health ; he being well testified of by other brethren, in 
whose bounds and neighbourhood he had lived these 
several years by-gone." At this meeting, he delivered 
a lecture before the Presbytery, on the 6th chapter of 
Hosea. On January 5, 1709, he delivered a homily, 
from Heb. xi. 6, " Without faith, it is impossible to please 
God, &c. and the Presbytery appointed him, for a 
" common head," In quo consisted beatltudo formalis 
aeterna sanctorum ?* February 9th he read his common 
head accordingly; March 16th, defended his thesis; 
March 1 7th, gave an addition on Ephes. hi. 1 ; and May 
4th, an exercise on Ephes. iii. 2. June 8th, he delivered 
a popular sermon on Ephes. v. 1 5, " gave proof of his skill 
in the languages, and answered extempore questions." All 
his exercises met the approval of the court ; and " having 
subscribed the Confession of Faith cora?n, the Presbytery 
did, and hereby do receive the said Mr. Ralph Erskine 
to preach the gospel within these bounds, and wherever, 
in providence, he should be orderly called." f 

His first public sermon was delivered at Culross, on a 
week-day, from 2 Cor. iii. 5, " But our sufficiency is of 
God." The following memorandum, accordingly, is 
prefixed, in his note-book, to this sermon : " Preached 
at Culross, Tuesday, June 14th, 1709, being the first after 

* " In what does the eternal happiness of the saints formally 
consist ?" 

■j- Hecords of Presbytery of Dunfermline. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



41 



my license/' His character as a Christian, and his edi- 
fying gifts as a preacher, soon recommended him to 
general esteem. To adopt the terms of a certificate, 
dated April 4 1711, which he received from the same 
Presbytery that gave him license, " he exercised the 
talents which the Lord had graciously given him with- 
in the bounds of the said Presbytery, both in vacan- 
cies and settled congregations, to the great satisfaction 
of his hearers, both ministers and people."* 

The occasion of his receiving this certificate, was a 
request from the Presbytery of Dunblane, with which 
that of Dunfermline thought proper to comply, agree- 
ably to the following extract from their minutes : — 

"Dunfermline, April 4, 1711. There was a letter 
from the Presbytery of Dunblane, desiring that Mr. 
Ralph Erskine, in these bounds, might be allowed to 
preach, by then direction, for some Sabbaths, in the 
vacant congregation of Tulliallan, within the bounds of 
the said Presbytery of Dunblane ; and that his license 
and testimonials might be given him for that end. The 
which being considered by the Presbytery, they grant 
the desire of the said Presbytery of Dunblane, and ap- 
point that the said Mr. Areskine, his license and testimonials 
may be given him, signed by the Moderator and Clerk." 

The parish of Tulliallan had lately become vacant by 
the translation of Mr. Buchanan to Dunfermline. The 
people, after hearing Mr. Erskine, unanimously called, 
and earnestly requested him to undertake the pastoral 
charge of their souls. About the same time, however, 
he received a call to the second charge in Dunfermline, 
which, notwithstanding the prospect of greater labour 



• Works, vol. i. Pref. p. ix. fol. 



42 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



and difficulty, with inferior emolument, lie was ultimate- 
ly persuaded to prefer. It appears then, that though 
Ralph Erskine was called to Tulliallan in 1711, and 
Ebenezerin the year 1713,* providence determined that 
neither of the two should be settled in that parish. 

At a meeting of the Presbytery of Dunfermline, May 
2, 1711, the Rev. Samuel Charters reported that, on 
the day preceding, according to appointment, he had 
moderated in a Call to Dunfermline, which had turned 
out in favour of Mr. Ralph Erskine ; and Parboch, one of 
the heritors, in name of that parish, gave in the said call, 
" subscribed by a great plurality of heritors, magistrates, 
town council, and elders " the which being considered 
by the Presbytery, they did, and hereby do approve the 
said call, as legally and orderly proceeded in." The Call 
was consequently put into the preacher's hand, with an 
exhortation to consider it, and subjects for trial were 
prescribed. After passing through the various custom- 
ary exercises, which we forbear again minutely to specify, 
to the entire satisfaction of the Presbytery, he was or- 
dained second minister in that collegiate charge, on the 
7th August, 1711. The particulars of this event, detail- 
ed in the two following extracts from the records, are 
not devoid of interest : — 

"Dunfermline, July 12, 1711. — The Moderator [the 
Rev. Thomas Buchanan] acquainted the Presbytery, that 
the cause of his writing to the members of Presbytery to 
meet this day, was that Mr. Areskin, after much reluc- 
tance and dealing with him, had at length promised to 
comply with the Call of Dunfermline ; but that in regard 
of a Call to Tulliallan, and frequent solicitations from that 



* Life and Diary of Eben. E. Pp. 315— -318. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



43 



parish, he [the Moderator] submitted his settlement in 
Dunfermhne to the will of the Presbytery, as also the cir- 
cumstances of Dunfermline, the weight of the charge, and 
his own difficulty, having the whole weight of the charge 
alone, and therefore desirous of a colleague, with the 
greatest expedition that might be conveniently reached. 
Which being considered, the Presbytery approve of the 
Moderator's deed, and declared their resolution to have 
Mr. Areskin settled with him, as soon as the nature of 
the thing will allow. Mr. Areskin having complied ju- 
dicially with the said Call of Dunfermline, the Presbvterv 

ml ' xJ %J 

appointed his ordination to be on Tuesday the 24th 
instant ; and that Mr. Buchanan preach that day, and 
preside in the action, and also serve his edict Sabbath 
next." 

"Dunfermline, August 7, 1711. — After prayer, sede- 
runt. Ministers ; Mr Thomas Buchanan, Moderator, Mr. 
Samuel Charters [Inverkeithing,] Mr. Allan Logan 
[Torrieburn,] Mr. James Hogg [Carnock,] Mr.Alexander 
Steedman [Beith,] Mr. Robert M'Gill [Kinross,] Mr. 
George Mair [Culross,] Mr.Alexander Scott [Aberdour,] 
Mr. Patrick Plenderleath [Saline,] Mr. James Cuthbert 
[Culross,] Mr. John Gib [Cleish ;] Gash, and James 
Beveridge, Elders. Mr. Andrew Thomson [Orwell,] 
and Mr. Alexander Campbell [Dalgettie,] absent. 

" Mr. Buchanan, Mr. Charters, Mr. Hogg, Mr. Logan, 
and Mr. Mair, represented, that they had, in a meeting 
among themselves, at Mr. Areskin's earnest desire, altered 
the diet of ordination to this day, and had ordered timeous 
information thereof to this congregation, and to the mem- 
bers of this Presbytery ; and also in regard to Mr. Bu- 
chanan's circumstances, had prevailed with Mr. Cuthbert 
to preach and preside in the action — to which the Pres- 
bytery 7 acquiesced. Then Mr. Buchanan returned Mr. 



44 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



Areskin's edict, which was called, and no objections 
offered against his life or doctrine. Upon which the 
Presbytery did proceed ; and after sermon by Mr. James 
Cuthbert, on Ephes. iv. 10 — 12, Mr. Ralph Areskin 
was ordained Minister of Dunfermline^ by imposition of 
hands, according to the usual way in this church. Upon 
which [Adam Rolland of] Gask, in name of the heritors, 
and Mr. Buchanan, in name of the Session, asked and 
took instruments." 

Mr. Ralph Erskine was thus inducted into the pastoral 
office at Dunfermline in the twenty-seventh year of his 
age, and nearly eleven years after the ordination of his 
brother Ebenezer at Portmoak. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



45 



CHAPTER II. 

Slate of the parish of Dunfermline — Mr. Erskine's studious and 
devotional temper — Faithfulness and success in the discharge of 
his ministry — Preaching — Administering the Lord's Supper — 
Catechizing and visiting his people — Attention to the young to 
the sick, to criminals, to the disconsolate — Letters to Mrs. Sarah 
Fisher and Mrs. Mary Stuart — Exercise of discipline — Par- 
ticulars regarding his Session — Care of the poor — Presbytery'* 
approval of his labours — Solemn address to his hearers. 

The sphere of usefulness allotted to Mr. Erskine, as one 
of the ministers of Dunfermline, was extensive and im- 
portant. This town is situated in the western district of 
Fifeshire, about three miles from the Frith of Forth; 
and is one of the most ancient and considerable in the 
county. In recent times, it has owed its external pros- 
perity, in a great degree, to the excellence and extent 
of its linen manufacture. At an early period of the 
Scotish history, it was the residence of kings. Malcolm 
III. surnamed Canmore, with his Queen Margaret, usually 
resided at a tower or castle, built in an adjoining valley. 
The south wall of a magnificent palace, subsequently 
erected near the castle, still remains. This palace was 
the birth-place of Charles I. ; and of his sister Princess 
Elizabeth, from whom the present royal family of 
Britain trace their descent. Dunfermline once boasted, 
too, of a very ancient, splendid, and extensive Abbey ; 
but about the beginning of the fourteenth century, it 
fell a sacrifice to the predatory army of Edward I, ; 

and what the English then spared of the fabric, wag 

c 



46 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



destroyed at the Reformation 1560, with the exception 
of the parish church and steeple. In the year 1818. an 
elegant new chmch was erected, to which the building, 
formerly occupied as the place of worship, now forms a 
spacious vestibule. All the seats are removed ; and not 
a shred of the old pulpit remains, except some bars of 
iron by which it was supported ; but the monuments of 
the illustrious dead, whose ashes it contains, serve to 
clothe it with a sombre and interesting aspect, and to 
awaken solemn recollections. 

The parish is about eight miles long and five broad. 
It contains, beside the royal borough of Dunfermline, 
the towns of Limekilns and Charleston, with Crossford, 
Halbeath, Crossgates, and several other villages. By 
the census of 1831, the population amounts to 17,068 
souls. In the year 1755, according to the return to 
Dr. Webster, the number was 8,552. Even at the 
commencement of Mr. Erskine's ministry* it was very 
considerable. In the records of Presbytery 1713, the 
parishioners are stated to be 5000. From a letter, ad- 
dressed by Mr. Ralph, in the year 1719, to his brother, 
the Rev. Philip Erskine, Rector of Knaresdale, it ap- 
pears that there were then " upwards of 5000 examinable 
persons in the congregation."* In 1732, the parish is 
represented in the Session's Records, as consisting of 
u more than 6000 examinable persons/' 

This large parish had only one pastor till 1645, when 
Messrs. Robert Kay and William Oliphant were or- 
dained on the same day«f For some time posterior to 
the Revolution 1688, its ecclesiastical state, in common 

* See a short notice of this brother in the Life of Eben. E. 
Pp. 42-4. 

f Fernie's Hist, of Dunf. eb. iii. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



47 



with many other parishes in Scotland, was somewhat 
anomalous. Mr. James Graham, the Episcopal incum- 
bent, admitted 1687, was allowed to retain his benefice, 
and to officiate in the church ; while the wishes of those 
who preferred a decidedly Presbyterian pastor were not 
disregarded. At a conjunct meeting of the Presbyteries 
of Kirkaldy and Dunfermline, held at Kirkaldy, July 
10th, 1688, we find notice of a letter relative to " the con- 
stituting of an eldership in each congregation," addressed 
to those Presbyteries by Mr. John Gray, minister at 
Dimfermline.* In the same letter, too, he requests 
that, as he was unable to travel so far as Kirkaldy, their 
meetings might sometimes take place at Dunfermline 
and Inverkeithing. Most probably this infirm minister 
did not survive many years. On the 1st May, 1701. 
the Rev. Hugh Kemp, formerly of F organ, was ad- 
mitted one of the ministers of Dunfermline. Dining 
his incumbency, the parish church was occupied one 
half of the Sabbath by Mr. Graham, and the other half 
by Mr. Kemp ; the latter preaching in a different place 
on that part of the day in which the former claimed the 
use of the church. Disheartened, however, by the con- 
duct of some individuals who did not submit to ms 
ministry, Mr Kemp accepted of a call to the parish of 
Carnbee, to which he was consequently translated in 
the year 1705. Though Mr. Graham was " deposed 
by the commission of the General Assembly for Armin- 
ianism, and neglect of his ministerial duties,"f no other 
minister seems to have been settled at Dunfermline before 
the death of that clergyman, which took place in 1710^ 

* Records of Presb. of Kirkaldy. 

t Brown's Gospel Truth, p. 44, Xote, 2d ed. 

t MS. by Inglis. 



48 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



Soon after that event, active measures were adopted to 
supply the spiritual wants of the parish. Mr. Thomas 
Buchanan was admitted to the first charge, November 
80th, 1710; and Mr. Erskine, as has been stated, was 
ordained second minister about eight months after. 

Fully alive to the importance of his charge, this de- 
voted servant of Christ applied himself, with unwearied 
assiduity, at once to the sacred studies, and to the active 
services, belonging to his office. Whatever proficiency 
he had previously made, he now redoubled his exertions 
in the pursuit of knowledge ; particularly in the study of 
theology in its various branches. Voluminous systems 
of divinity were perused with care, and many commen- 
tators consulted ; among whom he appears to have given 
the preference to that very general favourite, Matthew 
Henry. Though his Diary gives no regular account 
of his course of reading, it occasionally mentions the 
books he read. Owen, Manton, Flavel, and Boston, 
were among the authors he peculiarly valued.* He re- 
peatedly expresses his approbation of a work by Mr. 
Boston, which is now, probably, too much overlooked — 
his excellent treatise on the Covenant of Grace. In one 
passage he makes mention of the consolation he derived, 
in an hour of sadness, from an encouraging section in 
that performance, relative to all the promises having 
been originally given to Christ, as the head of his people. 
The entry is as follows : — 

* The Diary mentions also the following writers : — Bates, 
Durham, Hutcheson, Jenks, Preston, Morning Exercises, Gro- 
tins on the Truth of Christianity, Gurnal on the Devices of 
Satan, Brown and Watts on Prayer, Vine on the Sacraments, 
Doddridge on the Care of Souls, Bollock's Sermons, Hogg on 
the Spirit, Clarendon's History, De Laune's Plea for - Non -con- 
formists, the Bishop of Cork on the Human Understanding, &c 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



49 



"July 21, 1739 That which tended to my reviving 

at this time, was a word from Mr. Boston on the Cove- 
nant, particularly about the promise being made to Christ, 
and how faith might be strengthened by viewing the 
promise. Even when conscience-wasting sins appeared, 
so as to take away all ground of hope or expectation 
from the soul, looking to itself ; yet, when the promise 
is pleaded, as made to Christ, who is worthy, for whose 
sake God should do this thing, it created hope, and 
strengthened the soul. By this means, I say, I was led, 
especially in secret, to look again to God's holy temple*" 

The Bible itself, however, was the book which he 
prized, read, and studied, above all others. To this 
pure fountain of sacred truth he daily resorted with fresh 
alacrity, aware that its salutary waters were equally cal- 
culated to refresh his own soul and to furnish him richly 
for imparting instruction and comfort to others. Whilst 
lie attentively perused the authorized English version, 
and committed many large portions of it to memory, 
he did not neglect the original Scriptures. One of his 
note-books contains an abridgement of part of a Hebrew 
grammar ; to the study of which he began, it is stated, 
on February 29, 1716, to apply more closely than he 
had formerly done. 

His delight in study was cordial and persevering* 
The Diary includes repeated expressions of regret at 
the interruptions he met with from company ; and fre- 
quently did he persist in reading and writing till mid- 
night, sometimes till three or four in the morning. Yet 
all this indefatigable labour was hallowed and softened 
by prayer. While he exercised an exemplary diligence 
in using the proper means of cultivating his talents and 
augmenting his intellectual stores, few ministers, pro- 



50 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



bably, have been enabled to maintain a more humble 
and absolute dependence on the Spirit of God, for di- 
rection, strength, and success. His reliance on the 
Divine aid appears from the following extract : — 

" Thursday, October 7, 1731. — After reading Psalm 
xxx vii. with some consideration, I was helped in prayer 
to look to God in Christ, by way of trust and confidence 
in him. I was at a loss to look upon myself as among 
the number of the righteous spoken of in that Psalm. 
Yet I said, 6 Though I have no righteousness nor strength 
in myself, I desire to lay claim to this,- — that surely in 
the Lord have I righteousness and strength ; and looking 
to Him as the propitiation for my sin, and to his blood 
as the atonement, my heart was sweetly melted and dis- 
solved/ On this ground I was made to look for the 
accomplishment of the promise of God ; and my heart 
was pleased that the promise of the Spirit was to be ac- 
complished daily, yea 3 6 every moment.' — Also, my eyes 
were towards him for a word this day, being to preachy 
and not knowing yet what to think of for the subject. 
I preached on Psalm civ. 34, 1 I will be glad in the 
Lord/ After dinner, going to prayer alone, I was 
helped anew to seek the Spirit, to be as a well springing 
up and watering me every moment, and to look to the 
faithful Promiser. In seeking this, my soul was melted/* 

His exercises on October 8, the day immediately fol- 
lowing, are thus related : — " Towards the edge of this 
evening, when I was at prayer, I got some pleasant gales 
of the Spirit about my heart — sweet liberty and freedom 
in pouring out my heart before God. After I had re- 
membered the public abroad and at home, particularly 
in beseeching the Lord to bless my ministry in Dun- 
fermline, and to remember his word, < Lo, I am with 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



you,' and to bless what I was preaching on, even all 
things being in the hand of Christ, that he would give 
evidence of it by his working powerfully upon many ; 
I was helped then to beg the Spirit constantly to water 
and watch me. Under a sense of absolute weakness 
and inability to stand of myself, I was helped, with a 
heart poured out before God, to declare to him that, 
though he was calling me to wait upon him, yet I could 
not wait on him a moment, unless he would water me 
i every moment/ I was made to seek assistance and 
success, strength and courage, for my work in the con- 
gregation, while the Lord called me to the ministry 
therein; being conscious that my fainting spirit was 
unfit for any work, if the Lord would not be with me." 

On the morning of the Lord's day, in particular, he 
often approached the throne of grace, with sentiments 
of deep contrition, and with earnest desires for the 
divine presence and aid in the ministrations of the 
sanctuary. 

« Sabbath, April 16, 1732 — This morning, after 
reading, I went to prayer, under a sense of my nothing- 
ness and naughtiness, vileness and corruption, and ac- 
knowledged myself a ' beast before God/ and nothing 
but polluted and rebellious dust, yet looking to God as 
an infinite, eternal, and unchangeable Spirit, who from 
everlasting to everlasting is God, and always the same, 
and who manifests himself in Christ. And, therefore, 
with holy reverence, and with joyful tears, I professed 
my hope in the word ; my hope of the Spirit, because 
he has said, ' The well of water shall spring up to ever- 
lasting life ;' my hope of his presence, because he has 
said, < Lo, I am with you.' I think he allowed me some 
communion with him in a way of believing, and I was 



52 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



made to cry out with tears, 6 Lord, I believe, help thru 
mine unbelief/ I was led, in some sensible manner, 
under a view of my nothingness, and of God's all-suffi- 
ciency, to renounce all confidence in the flesh, and to 
betake myself solely to the name of the Lord, and there 
to rest and repose myself." The result of this deep 
abasement and earnest supplication, on the morning of 
the Sabbath, was comfortable ; for he adds, " This day 
I was helped in preaching/' 

Even when keenly engaged in study and writing, his 
soul was apt to ascend to heaven, in spiritual contem- 
plation and holy desires. At a time of assiduous pre- 
paration for the Lord's Supper, accordingly, he says 5 
u This day I studied for the solemnity; and while I 
thought and wrote, sometimes my heart was much lifted 
up, in viewing the Lamb that is in the midst of the 
throne." 

Whilst the gracious presence of God was the matter 
of his importunate and unceasing request, he did not 
neglect, when his prayers were mercifully answered, to 
recognize the divine goodness with feelings of lively 
gratitude. Thus, at the close of the first day of the 
week, he records his obligations, for the assistance afforded 
to him, in the following terms : — " This morning, after 
reading, my heart was at more liberty in prayer, and I 
had much sweetness upon my spirit in looking towards 
God in the promise, and pleading his covenant and 
perfections ; and in looking to the promise as the promise 
of God in Christ, concerning the Spirit. I was helped 
to look to him for his presence in my ministerial work. 
And when I went to the church, I was helped to some 
believing view of Christ, as Mediator and Intercessor, 
and was helped inwardly in public prayer, and also 



THE REV. RALPH- ERSKIXE. 



5:3 



helped in preaching on Romans viii. 34, 6 Who also 
maketh intercession for us.' 99 

Animated by this devotional spirit, and sustained by 
heavenly succours abundantly imparted in answer to his 
fervent and believing prayers, he was " instant in season, 
and out of season," in publishing the glad tidings of the 
grace of God. His colleague and he preached regularly 
on the Sabbath, forenoon, afternoon, and generally in 
the evening, and also on the Thursday ; each taking his 
turn in the work. When circumstances occurred to ren- 
der Thursday inconvenient for the people, another day 
was chosen. 

Mr. Erskine's sermons were truly evangelical, experi- 
mental, and useful. With few exceptions, they were 
fully written, and were the fruit of much study and re- 
flection. The cross of Christ was the grand theme on 
which he delighted to insist ; and whatever might be the 
immediate subject of discourse, he well knew how to keep 
in view its relation to the person, the righteousness, and 
the grace of the Saviour. His preaching, at the same 
time, embraced a great variety of topics ; and with much 
facility he could bring forward scriptural instructions, 
happily adapted to every occasion. Amongst many 
satisfactory proofs of his having possessed this very use- 
ful talent, it appears from several long lists of texts, jotted 
down in some of his note-books, and classed according 
to the varied seasons for which they were selected. One 
class, for example, is entitled, « Texts for ordinary Sab- 
baths f another, " Texts for week-days f a third, " Texts 
for fast-days f and a fourth bears the title of " Texcs 
for sacramental occasions." 

In conformity with the prevailing practice of the Scot- 
ish Clergy, at least in that age, he considered the expo- 



54 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



sition of a portion of sacred writ on the Lord's day, an 
essential part of the service. In the early years of his 
ministry, as his manuscripts indicate, he expounded the 
Gospels by Matthew and Mark, and the Acts of the 
Apostles ; and afterwards proceeded to explain the Apos- 
tolical Epistles* 

The Lord's Supper was administered at Dunfermline, 
for the first time subsequently to Mr. Buchanan's admis- 
sion, and Mr. Erskine's ordination, on Sabbath, August 
14, 1712; and in the second instance, June 7, 1713, 
Mr. Buchanan presided in the solemnity on the former 
occasion ; Mr Erskine on the latter.* That sacred in- 
stitution, except when particular circumstances occurred 
to prevent it, continued afterwards to be celebrated once 
a-year. Impressed with the importance of this Christian 
feast, and desirous that immortal souls might, through 
grace, be signally benefited by the united influence of the 
doctrine of the cross, and the precious memorials of re- 
deeming love ; the subject of this narrative prepared for 
public duty, not only by close application to his studies, 
but by supplications peculiarly solemn and importunate* 
Accordingly, when the sacramental solemnity of 1732 
was immediately in prospect, he gives the following ac- 
count of his exercise : — 

" Wednesday \ June 6. — This morning, after wakening, 
I had some thoughts that this might be the last Action 
sermon that ever I might have, and I was affected. 1 
read Psalm lxvii. with some application and affection, and 
then prayed, and had my heart poured out in prayer. 
I was made to wrestle with him for his promised presence, 
for his Spirit and blessing. I sought his presence par- 

* MS. by Tnglis. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



55 



ticularly on this occasion, and that the Spirit might be 
sent to glorify Christ as the Lamb in the midst of the 
throne ; expressing my hope." 

His prayers, at those seasons, often met a gracious 
return. During a great proportion of the period of his 
ministry, multitudes of Christians from other parishes, 
and even from distant parts of the country, resorted to 
Dunfermline at the time of the communion, to share in 
its benefits and consolations. The number of the wor- 
shippers was frequently such, that to accommodate all of 
them with comfortable lodging, was quite impracticable ; 
and not a few spent the whole night in the church-yard, 
or on the banks of the adjoining rivulet, employing them- 
selves in pious conference and prayer. The spiritual 
refreshment they experienced is adverted to by Mrs. 
Balderston, in the following entries of her diary ; where 
she also mentions the names of her brother's assistants, 
and the subjects of their sermons, on two occasions of 
this kind : — 

" The beginning of July> 1720, I went over to Dun- 
fermline. The sacrament was to be given there. On 
the Thursday was the fast. Mr. John Hepburn's text was 

Isaiah liii. 7. The minister of 's text was John 

xi. 55. Mr. Bathgate had a great sermon ; his text was 

1 Cor. xi. 31. Mr. Brisbane's was On the 

Saturday, at night, Mr. Bathgate was on the same text 
he had on the Thursday. My brother had the action 
sermon ; his text was Zech. xiii. 7. At night, his col- 
league Mr. WardlaVs text was Psalm xcv. 2. Mr. 

Currie's, on the Monday, was . Mr. Hamilton's 

was Mark xvi. 16. I was much in the dark myself; 
though I thought the Lord was in the place ; and it re- 



56 



LIFE AND DIARY CF 



freshed me to hear afterwards, that many had their bands 
loosed at that occasion," 

"August 19, 1721.— The Sacrament of the Lord's 
Supper was [administered] in Dunfermline. I went on 
the Wednesday, and got a very severe day of wind and 
rain ; and when I came to the [Queen's] Ferry, there 
was a very great tempest on the sea, so that I stayed 
there all night. But the next morning looked so terrible, 
that I knew not what to do. I am sure I had a call to 
go to that place ; it is dangerous to put my hand to the 
plough, and look back. It was fair in the afternoon ; — 
all the sermons [on the fast-day] were done before I 
came there. On the Saturday, Mr. Wilson, minister in 
Perth, his text was Psalm xxvii. 4. Mr. Hamilton of 
Airth's text was 1 Tim. i. 18, 4 Who was before, a blas- 
phemer, and a persecutor, and injurious ; but I obtained 
mercy/ I may say, to my blessed experience, and as it 
is Jer. xxxiL 27, 6 Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all 
flesh ; is there any thing too hard for me ?' No indeed ; 
for thou art a wonder-working God. Mr. Williamson's 
text, at night, was Psalm xxvii. 8, 6 When thou saidst. 
seek ye my face, my heart said unto thee, Thy face, 
Lord, will I seek.' Lord, thou that knowest all things, 
knowest that my whole soul hath said it. I was in a great 
damp, under a sense of my own emptiness, but yet got 
a sight of the fulness that is in Christ, that would be 
forthcoming to me in his own time and way, which I 
was to wait, with that word John xiii. 7, 4 Jesus answer- 
ed, and said unto him, What I do, thou knowest not now, 
but thou shalt know hereafter.' So that I found this 
was to be a waiting, believing communion to me — little 
in hand, but much in hope. When I was going to the 
table, they were singing in Psalm xxii. 26, 4 The meek 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



57 



shall eat and shall be filled/ &c. ; and I recollected Amos 
v. 4, 6 Seek ye me, and ye shall live.' Still I was seek- 
ing but missing, that sensible pre snce I desired ; but 
my Lord is wise, and knows what is best for me. At 
night, my brother's text was Song ii. 16, and ch. vi. 8, 
4 My beloved is mine, and I am his \ I am my beloved's, 
and my beloved is mine ;' — so that the spouse spoke it 
both forwards and backwards. He had a sweet and great 
sermon — which many found to their sweet experience — 
and I also. Though I cannot remember sermons, I 
know, by the light of the Spirit in the word, what is free- 
ly given . me of God ; and I will never forget that < my 
beloved is mine, and I am his. 5 On the Monday, Mr, 
Logan's text was Acts i. 5. And Mr. Hamilton was 
still upon 1 Tim. i. 13." 

Mr. Erskine himself, in a sermon preached before the 
celebration of the Supper in July, i 743, gratefully alludes 
to those encouraging tokens of the divine presence, which 
had been vouchsafed to himself and his people, at similar 
solemnities, in the early days of his ministry. " Has not 
God declared his name," says he, "and saved his people, 
by giving sweet experience of his powerful presence 
among us, even in our day, particularly on solemn sa- 
cramental occasions ? Hath not the Lord sometimes shown 
himself, and discovered his glory in the sanctuary, even 
here ? I remember that at the first communion in Dun- 
fermline, after the Lord had brought me in his holy pro- 
vidence to this place, he led me to speak in the evening 
on that word, < The name of the city, from that day, 
shall be Jehovah Shammah, the Lord is there/ — Ezek. 
xlviii. 35. Although many here were not then born ; 
yet there are many people, witnesses to attest that, from 
time to time, from sacrament to sacrament, God hath 



58 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



been pleased to show forth something of his glory. He 
saved, he showed himself, he declared his name ; there- 
fore ye are his witnesses that he is God, that he is the 
God of Bethel, that he is the same God, the same im- 
mutable God."* 

His conscientious attention to the more private duties 
of his ministry must now be adverted to. In the letter 
to his brother Philip, formerly referred to, when detail- 
ing a number of circumstances respecting his connections, 
after having stated the extent of his charge, he adds : — 
" Yet having a colleague, whose name is Mr. James 
Wardlaw, we usually get them visited and examined once 
a-year, besides our other ministerial work." For even 
two ministers to accomplish annually, by their united 
efforts, the public examination and family visitation of 
so wide and populous a parish, was a very great la- 
bour ; and many, who are by no means destitute of prin- 
ciple, will deem it, in reality, greater than was consistent 
with prudence to undertake. But pious zeal delights in 
exertion, and a willing mind overcomes a thousand diffi- 
culties. Nor was Ralph Erskine less solicitous to enjoy 
the divine presence and blessing, while performing these 
humbler services, than when employed in the public 
ministrations of the Sabbath. On a Friday evening, he 
says, " I visited at Pittencrieff, and before I went out, 
looked to the Lord for his blessing and conduct." A 
minute list of the subjects comprised in his petitions, on 
a Tuesday morning, includes the following article : — 
u Remembering that this day I was to begin examination, 
I was made to look to him that hath said, 6 Lo, I am with 

* Works, vol. ii. p. 214, foL Sermon on Is. xliii. 12. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



59 



you and to plead for his promised presence, both in 
the beginning and progress of this work ; — knowing and 
professing that the work would be but unpleasant to me, 
and unprofitable, unsuccessful among the people, unless 
He should be with me ; and desiring to hope for his 
presence because of his own promise, and for his Spirit 
as a Spirit of light, life, liberty, and power." On the 
evening of Monday, a few weeks after, he gives this ac- 
count of his exercise : " This day I went to Masterton^ 
to examine. By the way, I was helped to pray on horse- 
back, and my meditation on God was sweet. I sought 
of him, that he would help me in my work ; I thought 
if he would pity any poor soul, he would get more glory 
than by sun, moon, and stars — the glory of his grace 
and mercy ; and I was made to look to a promising 
God." 

His public examinations appear, on the whole, to have 
been well attended. Instead, too, of regarding the indif- 
ference of careless individuals as a pretence for relaxing 
his own exertions, he studied, by the most awakening 
admonitions, to rouse them from their pernicious security. 
The following reproof, administered from the pulpit at 
the close of public worship, in the year 1717, may be 
produced, as not merely an instance of fidelity, instruc- 
tive to pastors, but a solemn warning which deserves the 
serious attention of ignorant and negligent hearers, in 
the present age : — 

" I observe that it is, for ordinary, the most ignorant 
people that are most averse froni waiting on these diets 
of examination. Those means of knowledge, however, 
that you now enjoy, will rise up in the judgment against 
you, in the day of the Lord. Wilful ignorance, when 
people may have the means of knowledge, is a sin that 



GO 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



will bring on a double and dreadful damnation. ' It is a 
people of no understanding; therefore he that made 
them will not have mercy on them, and he that formed 
them will show them no favour.' People may, some- 
times, be more edified at one diet of examination, than at 
ten preachings ; and if people neglect these means, let 
their blood be upon their own head. We can go to 
God and say, 6 Lord, we would have taught that peo- 
ple, as we were able, by thy grace, but they would have 
none of our teaching. They neglected the means of in- 
struction, and cared not for our endeavours, so that it is 
not our fault, if they perish in their ignorance, and be 
damned for neglecting the great salvation.' Mind what 
our Master said, 6 He that despiseth you, despiseth me ; 
and he that despiseth me, despiseth him that sent me/ — 
I find the worst of you all, sirs, that care not a straw 
for ministers or means in time of health, yet crying for 
ministers and means of grace and salvation, when the 
cold hand of death is taking a grip of you. I'll assure 
you it is an ill- chosen time, when possibly you have no 
strength to speak to us, and we have no time to speak 
to you ; and God may leave your conscience to fill you 
with horror and to roar upon you, till you and it roar 
together among devils and damned spirits, in the bot- 
tomless pit. I love not, sirs, to preach of hell and 
wrath; but I see so many people running that way, 
through their slighting the road that leads to heaven, 
that I am resolved you shall not have it to say, when 
you are in hell, that you had a minister who never told 
you where you were going. Nay, you shall rather have 
it to say, ' Our ministers told us of tins place of tor- 
ment ; but we never believed it, nor took any care to 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



ei 



avoid it, or to flee from the wrath to come/ — I shall say 
no more at this time." 

Amidst his active attentions to grown-up people* this 
minister of Christ did not overlook the lambs of the nock. 
Beside instructing and exhorting them, along with others, 
in his regular courses of visitation and public examination, 
he appears, at least at some periods of his ministry, to 
have held weekly diets of catechizing, exclusively for 
the young, His brief notices, for example, of the manner 
in which he occupied his time in spring 1733, include 
such statements as the following, written sometimes on 
a Monday, sometimes on a Wednesday : — " This day I 
examined the children of the town, according to the 
proposal on Sabbath." " I examined the children In 
the church." One of his note-books, too, contains a 
series of questions and an address, which afford a spe- 
cimen of his plain, earnest, and affectionate manner of 
inculcating early piety on the rising generation. They 
are as follows : — 

Questions to young people. 

" Quest. 1. — Are you so young that you may not be 
sick and die ? Are }~oung folk exempted from death 
and the grave ? What have you to hinder the grave 
from swallowing you up more than those that are older ? 
Have you not seen infants laid in the cold dust ? 

" 2. — Are you so young that you may not go to hell ? 
It is among the first questions, you know, your parents 
teach you, that all ill children go to hell. Many young 
ones are in hell, who cursed away, and swore away their 
time, and who delayed away their time. (Job xxxvi. 



62 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



14.) 6 They die in youth, and their life is among the 
unclean.' 

" 3 — Can you be good too soon ? Can you love God. 
and inind your soul too soon ? Can you be too soon 
sure of heaven ; or too soon fall in with God's call to 
remember your Creator, and to seek him early ? 

" 4. — Whether is it better to give the first of your 
time to God or to the devil ? Would it be beseeming 
any here to say [to an earthly parent,] * Father, I will 
rebel against you while I am young, and be obedient 
when old ? and will you say so to God ?' 

" 5 — Is not youth the usual time of conversion ? An 
old sinner converted is a miracle that God works but 
now and then. s A young saint and an old devil,' is a 
bad prDverb ; for a young devil may become an old 
Beelzebub. 

" 6,-^-Is it not more pleasant to God. that you come 
to liim- young? 6 I love them that love me, and those 
that seek me early shall find me ;' ( I remember thee, 
the kindness of thy youth.' (Prov. viii. 17 ; Jer. h. 2.) 
It is pleasing to God to hear young ones pray and praise, 
and to see them believe in Christ, and weep for sin. 
God resents that disobedience, which is brought from 
youth to manhood. 8 This hath been thy manner from 
thy youth, that thou obeyedst not my voice/ (Jer. 
xxii. 21.) 

" O then, delay not. By beginning early, you will 
prevent a multitude of sins, and a multitude of sorrows. 
You will have a stock of prayers and a stock of graces 
laid up. Be afraid of that word, Job xiii. 26. — ' Thou 
writest' bitter things against me ; and makest me to possess 
the'iniquities of my youth.' 

" Consider that you are poisoned in your nature ; 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



G3 



defiled as soon as born, as soon as conceived. You have 
plague-spots on your heart. Can you delay, while these 
are eating away your souls ? Can you be careful about 
many things, and forget the one thing necessary ? Con- 
sider also what a great honour and happiness it is to be 
4 an old disciple/ O how comfortable will it be, to feel 
the weight of the crown of glory and the richness of your 
robes, according to the years of service. 

44 Does any say, 4 You would have me religious, but 
I have no power, I can do nothing, I cannot even think 
a good thought ?' Answer. — You can swear and lie, 
and you say you cannot read and pray. Do you think 
that God will be satisfied with such an excuse ? or can 
you satisfy your own conscience, to think you have done 
all you can, or should do ? Has not God enough to 
condemn you, in that you have not done what you 
could, and what you may ? Never pretend, therefore, 
you were not able, while you have not done what you 
could. 

Christ's complaint is, 4 Ye will not come to me, that 
ye might have life,' (John v. 40.) Do you ask, How 
shall we come to him ? It is said, verse 39, — 4 Search 
the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life ; 
and they are they which testify of me.' So that one of 
the ways of coming to Christ, is by reading and search- 
ing the Scriptures. Prayer is another way. All that 
came to Christ for help and healing, came praying, with 
the blind man, 4 Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy 
on me ;' or with the leper, 4 Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst 
make me clean ;' or with Peter, when ready to sink in 
the waters, 4 Lord, save me.' There is no coming to 
Christ, it is true, but by faith, or believing ; nor can any 



64 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



come to Christ, except the Father draw them. But yet, 
as the common road that faith takes in coming to Christ, 
is in the duty of reading and prayings so the common 
channel wherein the drawing power of the Spirit runs, 
is in the use of these very means. Let young and old, 
therefore, be diligent in reading and praying, and so in 
coming to Christ in that road wherein he has met with 
thousands ; and in that road perhaps he will, some time 
or other, tell you, — 6 When thou wast under the fig- 
tree, I saw thee/ And if you hold on in that road, I 
may say to you as he said to Nathanael, £ Thou shalt 
see greater things than these.' (John i. 50.) ' Call 
unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great 
and mighty things, winch thou knowest not/ (Jer. 
xxxiii. 3.) ' Those things which he hides from the wise 
and prudent, he reveals unto babes/ " (Mat. xi. 25.) 

Influenced at once by an affectionate natural temper, 
and by a truly Christian sympathy, he took peculiar 
pleasure in visiting the sick, the dying, the bereaved, 
the tempted and disconsolate. A considerable portion 
of his time was employed in administering instruction 
and comfort to these objects of compassion, and in offer- 
ing up prayers to God with them and for them. " This 
evening, in secret," says he in one passage of his Diary, 
" my heart was composed and enlarged. I was also 
disposed towards sympathy with Gash's family, they 
having a pleasant child dead this day, occasioned by her 
being burned in hot water in a vessel, into which she 
fell about six weeks ago." In another part of the same 
record, he thus expresses his concern at the calamitous 
death of one of the church-officers, who, on September 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKIXE. 



65 



28, 1732^ when seeking doves' nests, was instantaneously 
killed by a fall from the top of a steeple.* 

" Sep. 29, 1732. — This evening, having come home 
[from a meeting of Synod at Kirkaldy,] I found my 
family in safety ; but heard of the sad accident that befel 
Charles Pringle, one of our kirk-omcers ; how he had 
fallen from the top of an old steeple in the kirk, and 
was instantly killed." Sep. 30. — This morning, after 
reading, I was helped in prayer. I went to see Charles 
Pringle's wife ; and after noon I went to his funeral. 
May the Lord bless the sad accident to all concerned/' 

" About this time," it is stated in an entry 5 bearing 
date June 16, 1733, " there was a great and universal 
sickness with the cold. This day, being called to see 
John Blach) our precentor's son, about the middle of 
the day, I went, and was helped and quickened in 
prayer for the child. My heart was kindly engaged to 
look to the Lord in behalf of the child." 

At another time, we find him praying most fervently 
for a pious female on the bed of death. " This morn- 
ing," he says, u I was raised to see Mrs. Meldrum dying ; 
and, as I was sweetly helped in prayer last night, so 
going out to Mrs. M. ? I was helped to speak and pray 
with her ; and after I had been with her a while, went 
to see another dying saint, Elizabeth Cleland. After 
I came home, I went to my knees, and was helped, 
especially in behalf of Mrs. M., to plead his covenant 
and promise. She had told me, that He said, he would 
6 never leave nor forsake that he had said, 6 Because I 
live, ye shall live also that he had said, ' The day of 
vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed 



9 MS. by Inglis. 



66 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



is come.' In the midst of her extremity she was saying, 
6 Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him and that 
his faithfulness was her shield. I was helped to pour 
out my heart in secret for her, that when she was tossed 
with tempests, and not comforted, he would act con- 
formably to his promise, and my soul was poured out on 
her behalf ; and I found that, at this very time, she had 
been dying ; for she died before I got out to see her 
again. I had told her, when she was repeating some of 
these words, and when she could not take drink ; < Your 
soul is living on the word of life, that very word that 
proceeded out of the mouth of God/ I was made, in 
prayer at this time, to beg the Spirit might be poured 
out upon others in the place, that they might fill the 
room of those he was taking away." 

Though he found it, no doubt, much more pleasant 
to visit the godly than the ungodly, when standing on 
the threshold of eternity, his sincere commiseration, like 
that of his Master, was shown to the most heaven-daring 
sinners. That he did not neglect those unhappy indi- 
viduals whose crimes rendered them victims to public 
justice, appears from several entries in his diary : — 

" February 8, 1 732. — My eyes were towards God in 
the promise. In the forenoon, I examined in the church. 
Afternoon, I went to the prison, and heard a sentence of 
death passed upon one of the thieves, to be executed March 
22. Afterwards, when the condemned man was alone 
in prison, I went in to him, and dealt with him to con- 
fess, and give glory to God ; but gained little ground." 

" March 22. — The Presbytery sat. James Ramsay, 
a man condemned to death for theft, was executed here 
this day. As I went along with him, I was helped to 
look to the Lord Jesus for grace to manage right in 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



67 



this affair, as becomes a minister ; and as I was walking 
along, got some exercise of faith on that word, 4 Lo, I am 
with you/ And being the first that prayed on the stage 1 
before the multitude, I was helped. The man, however, 
was a mystery ; he still denied the facts for which he was 
condemned." 

The following anecdote illustrates Ins Christian hu- 
mility, no less than his benevolence. During his ministry 
at Dunfermline, a man was executed for robbery, whom 
he repeatedly visited in prison, to converse and pray with 
him. Attending him, with the magistrates, on the scaf- 
fold, Mr. Erskine addressed both the spectators and the 
criminal ; and, after concluding his speech, he laid his 
hand on his breast, uttering these words — " But for re- 
straining grace, I had been brought, by this corrupt heart, 
to the same condition with this unhappy man."* 

The bowels of this tender-hearted pastor were moved, 
in particular, on behalf of those whose minds were op- 
pressed with sorrow and perplexity, relating to spiritual 
concerns. He repeatedly adverts, in his daily memo- 
randa, to the interesting conversations he had held with 
such persons ; and to the comfort which resulted to his 
own soul, from his endeavours to comfort others. How 
well qualified he was " to speak a word in season to the 
weary," is evident from the friendly letters he wrote to 
some thoughtful individuals who solicited his counsel, 
though not residing within the limits of his parish. Two 
of these communications may, without impropriety, be 
produced here. The first is addressed to a Lady, of 

* This anecdote was communicated by the late Rev. J. Brown 
of Whitburn. It is related also in the Memoir prefixed to the 
Beauties of R. E., by the Rev. Sam. MacMillan. 



68 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



whom we have learned nothing more than the particulars 
disclosed by the letter. 

To Mrs. Sarak Fisher. 

u Madam, 

Your line came to my hand a considerable 
time after the date of it, and also at a season when I was 
obliged to lay it aside unanswered. But lately, having 
again taken it into my hand, I thought it my duty to 
gratify your desire, by giving some answer. I am glad 
that the Lord hath made any poor writings of mine re- 
freshing to you. Meantime, I see by your line, you are 
under fears, lest, notwithstanding the advantages you 
have enjoyed, you have no more than a head-knowledge ; 
and several other grounds of jealousies you express about 
vourself, wherein vou desire I mav deal plainly with 
you. 

Dear Madam, though it is hard for me to write on 
this head to one that I know no more of than just what 
your letter relates ; yet there are some things dropped 
in it, which, if they be told me from an upright ingenuous 
heart, may give some handle to show, that the seed of 
grace may really be sown, and that the Lord is humbling 
you, in order to heal you in due time. 

1st, You pretend you want the sealing testimonies of 
the Lord's grace, which you judge you would have, if you 
belonged to him. As to this, it may be in mercy that 
the Lord is withholding the seals of his love, and the com- 
fortable feelings of it, until you be brought to find it in 
a more cleanly way of believing his love. It is said in 
Ephes. i. 13, 6 After ye believed, ye were sealed/ The 
only sure ground of faith, is the word of grace and truth 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



69 



there spoken of, and not our feeling. The felt sealing 
of the Spirit of promise is not to be expected, before our 
believing the word of promise. If we should have any- 
thing like a feeling of his love, before our believing of 
his love, we would be ready to build our faith upon 
transient feelings, and frames, and influences, and not 
upon the sure word of promise. Though the revealing 
work of the Spirit, opening the word, is prior to faith ; 
yet the sealing work of the Spirit is posterior to it. 
Many are deluded that rest upon feelings, and build 
their faith of God's love, not on what God hath said, 
but merely on what they have felt ; and, as these feelings 
are up and down, so is their faith. It will therefore be 
your mercy, if the Lord be withholding what you call 
the sealing testimonies of his love, till once you be made 
to give him the glory of his truth, by believing his love 
revealed to you in his word ; and then you may expect 
the comfort of it sealed to you in your heart. The 
woman with the bloody issue had not sensible feeling of 
virtue coming from Christ, till once she touched the 
hem of his garment by faith, Luke viii. 43 — 48. If you 
expect and wait for feelings to found your faith, they 
are mercifully denied you, that you may build upon a 
surer foundation, namely, Christ speaking in the word 
for the ground of your faith, before you have any feeling 
of him in your heart for the encouragement of faith. 

2dly, You tell me, you can hear others talk of sweet 
communion with the Lord, and of their longing to be 
dissolved, and to be with Christ, while yet the thoughts 
of death are terrible to you ; and at the same time you 
complain of deadness, coldness, and carnality, fearing 
you want love to Christ, and that these things are not 
the spots of God's children. — Dear Madam, if you have 

D 



70 



LIFE AND DIAEY OF 



got a view of the plagues of your own heart, and are in- 
deed kept poor, and needy, and empty, and humbled- 
under a sense of your want of all grace and goodness in 
yourself, that Christ and his fulness may be the more 
precious and acceptable to you ; you have the advantage 
of those who are enriched with greater enjoyments, if 
they be lifted up with them, Matth. v. 3 — 6. Isaiah 
lxvi. 2. I hope this is the case with you ; and that be- 
cause of what also you say in your letter, that sometimes 
you can rejoice at the doctrine of God's everlasting love 
to his chosen ones, though you cannot see your own 
interest in it ; and are sure, that if ever you are saved, 
the crown must be upon the head of Christ. This looks 
like the language of one whom God is humbling in order 
to exalt, and emptying in order to fill in due time. See 
Psal. ix. 18, and x. 17, and cxiii. 5 — 7. 

3dly, You speak of your having been under many 
temptations, but that you do not remember any promise 
to have come with power for your deliverance. Dear 
friend, if deliverance has come to you from time to time, 
according to the promise, even powerful and merciful 
deliverance, whether sudden or gradual, though the pro- 
mise itself has not come to you with such power, or in 
such a manner, as you think it has come to others, you 
should be thankful. The Lord's way of bringing home 
the promise to the heart is various towards some and 
others. However, I know little odds between a promise 
poured in sweetly upon the heart, and a heart poured 
out sweetly upon the promise. The latter may be as 
sure and safe as the former. If the promise has but, in 
holy providence, come to your mind, whether by hear- 
ing, reading, or musing, so that you have been helped 
to make it matter of prayer and pleading before the 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



71 



throne of grace, be you content, Madam, and bless God 
for it. Many are ready to depend more upon the felt 
power and sweet influence by which the promise comes 
to them, than upon the promise itself; and hence, when 
the power and influence is withdrawn, then faith is to 
seek. They cannot rest upon the bare word of God, 
the bread on which the soul should live, unless, like 
little children, they get the butter and honey of some 
sweet influence spread upon it, This disposition, in any 
godly souls, is much owing to the sad remains of a legal 
temper, that makes them seek for a ground of faith and 
hope, more in themselves, and in what is done by them, 
and wrought or felt in them, than by going out of them- 
selves to what the Lord is in himself, and has wrought 
for them, and spoken to them. Faith is most strong, 
when it can live on a bare promise, without the supports 
of sense. Endeavour you, Madam, through grace, to 
trust on a promising God, giving credit to his truth ; 
and you shall find him, in his own time, a performing 
God, giving comfort to your heart. Seek rest, not in 
streams of blessings and comforts only, that come from 
him, and take various turns ; but in himself, the fountain, 
who is still the same. 

But I fear I have insisted too much. If you want I 
should further explain any thing here written, you may 
let me know by another line. I have not in the least 
studied to flatter you ; I have no temptation to do so, 
being quite ignorant of you, further than you have told 
me. If you please to let me know your outward station 
or situation in life, whether it be high or low, it will be 
agreeable to me. I shall wish I may be able to do ser- 
vice to your soul ; and if what I have here written be 
any way useful to you, and suitable to the case you 



7*2 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



wrote of to me, I will be glad you let me know you 
have received this line. If it come in time to answer 
any difficulties you may yet be under, you will the more 
readily pardon and excuse my having been so long of 
coming with it. May the Lord bless all his own means 
of grace, and make your soul prosper ! 

I am, &c. 

Ralph Erskine. 

Dunfermline, Jan. 19, 1742."* 

The other letter, referred to above, is of a considerably 
earlier date than that to Mrs. Fisher. With the excep- 
tion of a part of it published a few years since in a periodi- 
cal publication^ it has never yet, so far as we know, ap- 
peared in print. It is addressed to several pious mem- 
bers of the family of Dunearn; and relates partly to 
certain conscientious scruples occasioned by the enforce- 
ment of the law of patronage, and partly to the spiritual 
exercises of the Christian.^ It seems right to copy it 
entire, from the author's own manuscript in one of his 
note-books. 

" Letter to Mrs. Mary Stuart, and her younger 
Sisters and Brother. 

"Dunfermline, Nov. 17, 1724. 
" My very much endeared Friends, 

" Having understood once and again 
that you were expecting a line from me, I designed, 

* This letter is copied from the Rev. Mr. Brown's Collection 
of Relig. Let. Pp. 209—213. See also Miss. Mag. vol. i. Pp. 
302—304. 

+ Christ. Monitor, vol. iv. p. 712, 

X See Appendix, No. Ill, 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



7:3 



before this time, to have signified to you, how much I 
desire to sympathize with you, both in your crosses and 
comforts ; by bearing burden with you in your trials, 
and by rejoicing with you in the kindness which I hear 
the Lord is showing to your souls, amidst the pressures 
of manifold difficulties, whether inward or outward. But 
as my design has been hitherto crossed by several ob- 
structions, needless to be mentioned here, so having at 
last broke through these hedges, I shall offer what occurs 
upon these two foresaid heads. 

" As to the main trial which I understand to have of 
late afflicted and affected you, since it has a reference 
to the glorious Gospel of our Lord Jesus, and the evan- 
gelical way wherein you have desired the dispensation 
thereof, in opposition to the antichristian and anti-evan- 
gelical obtrusion of pastors upon a Christian people 
against their free election and consent, to the infringing 
of Christian liberty : Such an imposition as this is, I 
own, a yoke which neither we, nor our fathers, were 
able to bear ; and I think the Lord is saying to some in 
our generation, < Why tempt ye God to put such a 
yoke upon the neck of the disciples ?' Acts xv. 10. 
Now, if you, as disciples of the Lord Jesus, be groaning 
under a heavy yoke of this nature, I shall not say either, 
on the one hand, that it is your dutv violently to throw 
it off, like bullocks unaccustomed to any yoke ; or yet. 
on the other hand, tamely to submit your neck thereto, 
as if no difference were to be made betwixt the yoke of 
a Divine institution, and that of a human imposition. 
Every ordinance of God, whether it relate to his pre- 
ceptive will in what we are called to do, or to his pro- 
vidential will in what we are called to suffer, ought to 
be submitted to, as an easy yoke and a light burden, 



74 



LIFE AND DIAEY OF 



through his strengthening and supporting grace. But 
with respect to every ordinance of man that seems to be 
imposed under the colour of a divine warrant, it is a hard 
matter to understand how to carry so as to run to no 
extreme. And though it is also hard, while there is any 
thing like parties in the Lord's house, for one who is 
reckoned to be upon one side, to say any thing but 
what will be liable to misconstruction by the other side ; 
yet, being confident that those to whom I write will 
make no bad use of my freedom, I shall adventure to 
give the following thoughts with respect to such a human 
yoke. It is to be considered either as it is managed by 
men for advancing their carnal designs, or as it is ordered 
of God for advancing his holy ends. In the former 
respect, it ought to be rejected, refused, and testified 
against, in all proper and becoming methods; other- 
wise we cannot be witnesses for God against the cor- 
ruption of the day we live in. In the latter respect, 
it comes under the denomination of a trial, under which 
there ought to be a patient waiting on the Lord till he 
make light to arise out of obscurity. As to that par- 
ticular difficulty, with respect to the attending on the 
ministry of the word under such circumstances, I dare 
not adventure to lay down any other direction save that 
of the Apostle, Rom. xiv. 5, < Let every man be fully per- 
suaded in his own mind or, as the word may be rendered, 
; fully assured and a good reason is given for this direc- 
tion in the last verse, 4 Whatsoever is not of faith, is sin/ 
Particular straits, it is true, may occur in providence, 
which require particular light and conduct, for which 
there ought to be a close dependence upon the Lord, 
the fountain of light. The case of some congregations 
at present is to me like a forced marriage, when there is 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



75 



not mutual consent of parties ; for example, on the side 
of the female. The match proves, in the issue, either 
good and advantageous to the forced party, or not sc. 
If it prove good and agreeable, then she ought to dwell 
with the husband, and bless over-ruling providence, yet 
testify against the sinful management of the matter ; since 
the laws of nature w r ere violated, by the force and vio- 
lence that were used. If, on the contrary, it prove still 
bad and disagreeable, and yet a divorce impracticable, 
the misery is great, especially where there is no remedy 
but patience. The former part of the simile is easily 
understood, and it w r ere desirable to be thus disappointed ; 
notwithstanding that I have sometimes thought, that a 
general attendance upon such a forced ministry, would 
make those that are guilty of that force and violence to 
glory in their action, and encourage themselves in such 
a conduct, though yet the good issue that providence 
brings out of an evil will never justify it. But as to the 
latter part of the simile, namely where the match is 
still disagreeable, and yet a divorce impracticable, and 
where there is no remedy but patience, I own the simile 
does not here agree so w T ell w r ith the matter represented 
by it ; for, in the pastoral marriage, where it is con- 
strained, and every way disagreeable to spiritual welfare, 
there are particular measures that may be taken for 
relief, as Christian prudence may direct, and measures 
not inconsistent with a patient waiting on the Lord, 
and an inoffensive carriage towards men. In some cases, 
indeed, it is hard to carry so as not to displease some ; 
but it is one thing to displease their humour, and another 
thing to offend their conscience. We may sometimes 
displease people's humour and put them in a rage, while 
yet their conscience may justify our deportment ; or, 



76 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



though their conscience be seared, and blind, and mis- 
informed, yet if our way can bear the test of the divine 
word, we give them no real offence. It would be liable 
to misinterpretation by some, if I should say, as a great 
man once did, that it is no separation to seek after the 
purest ordinances, any more than a sick person going to 
the purest air. But I would fain hope that your case 
does not correspond with this. Meantime, I desire to 
pray that the Lord may sweeten and sanctify both pre- 
sent grievances, and the future alteration of circumstan- 
ces, which, I understand, is likely to take place, with 
respect to you. 

" Now, amidst all the trials that you have been, or are 
conflicting with, I think I have ground to persuade my- 
self, that the Lord is showing kindness to you, by his 
comforting and confirming manifestations ; and by carry- 
ing on the great work, which, I hope, he has begun ; 
and the furthering of which, is what I mainly proposed 
by this missive. Though I have prevented my enlarg- 
ing, by insisting so much already, yet I shall presume to 
add a few things on this head. O bless the Lord that 
ever he brought you to see that your happiness lies not 
in the worldly vanities, earthly pleasures, and carnal 
jollities, that many are satiating themselves withal ; but 
to look beyond these things, and to see Him that is in- 
visible, even a God in Christ as your only sure and all- 
sufficient portion ; and that even he taught you to put a 
difference betwixt the voice of Christ and the voice of a 
stranger ; while others that see not so far, are perhaps 
looking upon you as if you were half-mad or infatuated. 
It is no new thing for Joshua and his fellows to be per- 
sons wondered at, Zech. hi. 8. But to be his fellows, who 
is the true Joshua, to have fellowship with the blessed 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



Jesus, through the sweet anointing of his Spirit, where- 
with he is anointed above his fellows, is a privilege that 
can easily counterbalance all the slights and reproaches 
that can be suffered for his sake. I understand that this 
privilege is sometimes, in a remarkable manner, conferred 
upon some of you, if not on you all. O bless the Lord 
for it ; but do not expect to be always dandled by sensi- 
ble communion with our Lord. It is, indeed, sweet to 
be lying in the lap of sense ; but you must be set down 
upon your feet, to walk by faith ; and this life is as sine 
as the other is sweet. By a life of sense, we get the more 
comfort ; by a life of faith, our Lord gets the more glory ; 
for faith worketh by love, and love is the heart and soul 
of all gospel-obedience. Yea, though saving faith, and 
sensible spiritual feeling go frequently together — there 
being a joy and peace in believing — yet faith must be 
content sometimes to live upon a bond when there is no 
present payment to be given or expected. And we may 
be well satisfied that a faithful and true God gives us 
such good security as the bond of his promises, and we 
ought to give him his own day for the accomplishment. 
The more belie vingly and patiently we wait, till the fruit 
that hangs on the tree of the promises be ripe, it will be 
the bigger and the sweeter. 

" Yet, by the bye, I think it is a sweet battle, and 
pleasant disagreement, that it is sometimes betwixt the two 
graces of faith and love, — while love says, I must have 
him presently, and faith says, I must wait for him patient- 
ly ; love says, I cannot want him, and faith says, I cannot 
limit him ; love says, let me rejoice in his sweet presence, 
and faith says, let me rest upon his sure promise. Love. 
I think, is more selfish, and speaks for itself; but faith is 
more noble, and speaks for God. What a noble life, 



78 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



then, is it, to live by faith, even in a day of hiding and 
darkness, and against hope to believe in hope, and to 
be strong in the faith, giving glory to God ! Though 
love may excel faith for length, as it is a triumphant 
grace, 1 Cor. xiii. 13, yet faith doth excel love for 
strength, as it is a militant grace ; and hence, though love 
be strong as death, yet faith is stronger, for all things are 
possible to it. Why ? It borrows the arm of omnipotency, 
and sets the power and the promise of God together on 
its side ; it puts the God of truth to his word, and the 
God of power to his work, being fully persuaded that he 
who hath promised is able to perform, Rom. iv. 21. And 
as it most ordinarily is vented and exercised in prayer, 
so when it comes to the open field, the pitched battle, to 
be wrestling with God for the blessing, then Jehovah 
condescends to yield, and own that he is overcome ; yet 
so as the conqueror shall not boast in himself, but glory 
in the Lord, in whom alone he is more than a conquer- 
or, Rom. viii. 37. 

" O if we could believe more, we should see more of 
the glory of God. It is our advantage, that he, who is 
the object of faith, is also ' the author and finisher' 
thereof ; and that we are allowed to be still looking to 
him both as ' the author' of it, that he may work it and 
every act of it in us, as our momentary constant need 
requires ; and as the 6 finisher' of it, that he may carry 
on Ins work to perfection, till faith terminate in vision, 
and that he may fulfil in us the good pleasure of his 
goodness, and the work of faith with power — that the 
name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in us, 
and we in him," 2 Thes. i. 11, 12. 

" True faith gives Christ his own room, and will not 
take a bit of his glory. It will own, that all its being 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



79 



and operation hold of Christ as its author, so as it can- 
not stir without him, nor move but as he moves it ; and 
that all its virtue and usefulness hold of Christ as its 
object, so as it cannot justify nor save, as it is our gra- 
cious act, but as it applies this glorious object. It makes 
Christ's perfect obedience and condign satisfaction the 
alone condition of eternal life ; and as it cleaves to Christ's 
righteousness alone as the ground of its title to heaven, 
so it employs his Spirit as the only author of its meet- 
ness for heaven. In a word, it gives itself room no- 
where, that Christ may have room everywhere ; it 
makes itself nothing at all, that Christ may be 4 all in 
all/ God has put honour upon it as the instrument of 
justification, because it puts all the honour of justifica- 
tion upon God in Christ by the Holy Ghost ; or upon 
Christ's righteousness, imputed by the Father, brought 
in by the Son, and applied by the Spirit. Faith gives 
all the honour to God, and takes none to itself, so long 
as it acts like itself. God has eminently connected it 
with salvation, saying, 6 He that believeth shall be saved,' 
because it disclaims even itself, as well as all things else, 
from having any title to the praise of any part of salva- 
tion, that Christ may have all the glory of it, and be the 
centre of our praises, and that salvation may not be by 
works evangelical any more than legal, but by grace. 
4 Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace,' 
Rom. iv. 16. Thus all boasting is excluded, while faith 
first excludes itself as a work, and then all legal and 
gospel works too, as the grounds of salvation and justi- 
fication ; while, at the same time, it produces natively 
all gospel works, as fruits and evidences of justification, 
and so we show our faith of free justification by our 
works of sanctification. As the same thread is winded 



80 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



up upon one clew by being winded off from another, so 
the same work of holiness, which faith winds off and dis- 
claims in the matter of justification, it winds up upon the 
clew of sanctification, — to evidence that justifying faith is a 
sanctifying thing, and that the more a man is dead to the 
law, the more is he alive unto God, Gal. ii. 19. The 
more he renounces the law as a covenant, the more 
does he honour it as a rule ; the faith of free justification 
through Christ's righteousness alone, without the works 
of the law, being the very root of all true gospel holiness. 

" Now that the glorious Gospel, and Christ the sub- 
stance thereof, may be more and more known to you ; 
and that, under the constant influence of the eternal 
Spirit, you may grow up as willows by the water 
courses, till you be planted in the heavenly paradise, 
shall, I hope, be the prayer and desire of him who writes 
these lines, and desires a good share of your prayers, 
and who remains, 

Dearly beloved and honourable, 

Your endeared Friend and humble Servant, 

Ralph Erskine." 

The most unpleasant part of a pastor's work is that 
which is occasioned by scandalous offences breaking out 
amongst his people. In the populous parish of Dun- 
fermline, such disorders did not unfrequently occur ; and 
Mr. Erskine considered it his indispensable duty to vin- 
dicate the honour of Christ, resist the encroachments of 
vice, and attempt the recovery of open transgressors, 
by the vigorous exercise of the discipline authorized by 
Scripture, and by the rules of that Presbyterian church 
to which he belonged. In cases, therefore, where those 
rules required it, he not only conversed privately with 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



81 



delinquents to bring them to repentance, but also re- 
buked them before the congregation. Admitting that 
the subjects of discipline were too frequently rebuked 
for the same offence, and even that, in some instances, 
private reprehension, would have served a good purpose 
better than any public appearance at all, his mode of 
procedure displayed no singular rigour or austerity. 
He merely acted in accordance as well with the esta- 
blished usage of the times, as with his own convictions 
of duty. 

Some written reproofs, still extant in his manuscripts, 
afford sufficient evidence of the fidelity and gravity 
with which he was accustomed to address himself in 
public to persons convicted of dishonesty, Sabbath- 
breaking, lewdness, and other offences. To one, for 
example, he says : " Think upon the case you are in, 
and meditate on the misery you have exposed your- 
self unto ; for God will deal with you either in mercy 
or in wrath. If he deal with you in mercy, then you 
will surely find more bitterness in sin than ever you 
found pleasure in it ; and if he deal with you in wrath, 
you will find sin, like a mountain of lead, weighing you 
down to the bottom of hell for ever. The Lord make 
you wise to salvation, that you may flee from the wrath 
to come." — An address to another contains the follow- 
ing passage : " The devil promises the carnal hearts of 
men much pleasure and satisfaction in the way of sin ; 
but, alas ! in his promises he is found to be the father of 
lies. I have read of King Canute, that he promised to 
make him the highest man in England who should kill 
King Edmund his rival ; which, when one had perform- 
ed, and expected his reward, he commanded him to be 
hung on the highest tower in London. So Satan pro- 



82 



LIFE AND DIARY Of 



mises great tilings to people in pursuit of their lusts, 
but he puts them off with great mischief. The pro- 
mised crown turns to a halter ; the promised comfort, 
to a torment ; the promised honour, into shame ; the 
promised consolation, into desolation ; and the promised 
heaven turns into a hell. Oh ! what profit have you of 
those things whereof ye ought to be ashamed ? " for the 
end of those things is death." 

In justice to tins faithful reprover of iniquity, it must, 
however, be added, that his severity was softened by 
tenderness, his most awful rebukes, by affectionate coun- 
sels. At the meetings of his Session for administering 
discipline, if at any time elders assumed a tone of im- 
moderate harshness, he was wont to check them gently, 
saying, " Brethren, we must restore those that are over- 
taken in a fault, in the spirit of meekness : Remember 
him who has compassion on the ignorant, and on them 
that are out of the way." 

During Mr. Erskine's ministry, care was taken to pro- 
vide an adequate number of ruling Elders and Deacons. 
In March, 1714, eight persons who had been ordained 
as deacons three years before, were promoted to the 
eldership, and other ten were invested with the same office. 
Mr. Buchanan preached and presided on that occasion. 
Five new elders were ordained by Mr. Erskine, in June 
1720. thirteen in May 1733, and three more in Xovem- 
ber following. In September 1726, six deacons were- 
ordained by Mr. Wardlaw. 

The ministers, instead of choosing elders and deacons, 
merely by their own authority, availed themselves of the 
counsel of those who had previously sustained those 
offices, and manifested some regard to the voice of the 



THE REV. RALPH ER5KINE. 



83 



people. In 1719, "the Session, considering that there 
are several quarters in the congregation that want elders, 
the ministers recommend it to the elders to bring in, with 
their conveniency, a list of fit persons for that office." 
A few weeks after, they complied with that recommen- 
dation, by presenting " a list of those persons whom they 
judged fit to be elders in this parish." On the 2d of 
April, 1733, after a list prepared in the same manner 
was read, " the elders were appointed to make inquiry in 
the several quarters of the parish, if the foresaid persons 
be the people s choice, and can be constituted elders by 
their consent, and to report then 1 diligence against Thurs- 
day come eight days." Accordingly, on the 12th April, 
" the several members present gave an account to the 
Session chat they have mostly gone through their several 
quarters, and found that the foresaid leet nominated for 
being elders, were the choice of the generality of all the 
heads of families in the quarters to which they severally be- 
long; and that, besides the foresaid leet, some others were 
nominated to them by the people — whom the Session 
were well pleased to add to the former leet." At a sub- 
sequent meeting, May 2d, the candidates, " being judicial- 
ly examined as to then qualifications and abilities for 
that office, they were approved ;" and then it was agreed 
that, on a certain Sabbath, notice should be given from 
the pulpit of then intended ordination, and intimation 
made, that if any person had any valid objection to the 
character of any of the candidates, he should state his 
objection in due time before the Session.* 

To incite members of Session to diligence and faith- 
fulness in the discharge of duty, the practice of privy 



* MS. by Inglis. 



84 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



censures was observed*, and each one was closely exa- 
mined as to the particulars of his conduct. In the month 
of February 1736, the following list of Questions, we find, 
was proposed to the ruling elders : — 

"1. Do you keep up the worship of God in your 
family, and endeavour it morning and evening ? 

2. Do you visit the sick in your own quarter, and 
pray with them? 

3. Do you attend the monthly meetings of the Session, 
except in cases of necessary absence ? 

4. Do you endeavour to bring in no subject that may 
divert from duty, in these meetings ? 

5. Do you search out scandals and indecent conversa- 
tion of persons, that you hear of in your several quarters ; 
and when you find that they are flagrant, do you inform 
the Session of them? 

6. Do you enquire for certificates from persons com- 
ing from other congregations, that live in your quarters ? 

7. Do you take care of the poor in your quarters, and 
only apply for them when you know that they are really 
needy ? 

8. Do you keep the Session's private affairs ; and make 
it your business, before the dispensing of the sacrament 
of the Lord's Supper, to enquire into the conversation of 
every one in your quarter that use to apply for tokens, 
and faithfully make known to the Session, at the reading 
of their names, every thing for which they may be re- 
fused a token, [knowing] that the elder of the quarter 
shall bear the blame of every known fault not told?" 

The two ministers were, in fact, zealously countenan- 
ced by the elders in their attempts to maintain virtuous 

* Comp. Life of Eben. Erskine, Pp. 363, 524. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 85 

and regular conduct in the parish. We find the Session 
repeatedly making efforts to check the profanation of 
the Sabbath, the re veilings at " penny weddings," and 
other evils ; and appointing solemn warnings on such 
topics to be delivered from the pulpit. It seems to have 
been the practice for a few of the elders and constables 3 
after the commencement of public worship on Sabbath, 
to perambulate the town and some of the adjoining vil- 
lages, for the purpose of curbing disorderly persons that 
neglected divine ordinances, and desecrated that holy 
day by idle and mischievous sauntering. At one time 
the Session recorded their resolution to converse very 
seriously and particularly with the subjects of discipline, 
" judicially declaring to them, before their public ap- 
pearance, that they have made themselves incapable of 
communion with the people of God ; taking pains to in- 
struct them, and to see that they have a real feeling of 
their sins, before absolution ; and advising with the Pres- 
bytery respecting those that are still ignorant and insen- 
sible. " The Session being weighted" [deeply affected] 
it is added, " with the many scandals in this congregation, 
they resolve, after taking pains, as above directed, to 
proceed to the sentence of excommunication against 
such as continue ignorant, insensible, and uninformed ; 
and they appoint this to be intimated to the congrega- 
tion." 

Elders themselves, when their conduct deserved it, 
were not exempted from the rod of discipline, or even 
from the penalty of deprivation. In the year 1726, for 
instance, a certain elder had repeatedly given offence by 
drinking to excess, and notwithstanding promises of 
amendment, had lately been " very guilty on the even- 
ing of a market-day." « The Session, after serious and 



86 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



mature deliberation, thought fit that Mr. Erskine should 
pray for light and direction in this important matter, 

and that R C should be called to join therein ; 

which being done accordingly, and he again removed, 
they came to this state of the vote, Suspend or Depose 
from the office of ruling elder, and it carried by a great 
majority, Depose." 

Considerable attention was shown to the interests of 
the poor, and various plans were tried for their relief. 
At one time, " it was agreed on by the heritors, town- 
council and session, that no stranger poor should be al- 
lowed to beg in the parish, nor any poor in the parish 
to beg from door to door ; but their names put in a list, 
and weekly allowances given them, according to their 
necessities. And for this end, the whole town and 
landward were stented [assessed] according to their 
ability, for so much in the year. There were no col- 
lections gathered on the Sabbath-days at the church- 
doors."* Serious difficulties having occurred, however, 
in the execution of this arrangement, the old mode of 
providing a fund by public collections on the Lord's day 
was soon resumed. On Sept. 9, 1733, at a conjunct 
meeting of heritors, magistrates, members of the town- 
council and elders, it was determined, " that the way 
and manner the poor have been maintained these two 
years past, can take place no longer, but must drop ; 
because several of the heritors, and inhabitants of the 
town and country, refuse to give ujp then stent laid on 
them as bound. Therefore the meeting agreed that the 
poor be supplied by the Session as formerly." The Ses- 
sion, in consequence, embraced an early opportunity of 



MS. by Inglis. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



87 



causing " intimation to be made from the pulpit, that 
the congregation extend their charity to the poor, as 
much as their ability will allow, the poor being in very 
great need."* About this time, thirty-seven persons 
were relieved per week, receiving, in all, L.6, 8s. Scots 
money ; and twenty-four per month, among whom L. 6, 
18s. were distributed each month. 

Partly owing to the increased population of the parish, 
but chiefly to the growing confluence of communicants 
and hearers from other quarters, the collections, on sa- 
cramental occasions, rose considerably. In the first 
years of Mr. Erskine's ministry, they averaged about 
L. 175 Scots ; but after 1733, they sometimes amounted 
to more than L.280. 

Notwithstanding the agreement relative to stranger 
poor mentioned above, the beneficence of the Session and 
people of Dunfermline was not entirely confined to their 
own parish. Part of the collections made on occasions 
of administering the Lord's Supper, was repeatedly 
given to strangers, " on particular recommendation." 
In compliance with a petition from the Session of Kin- 
ross, a liberal sum was collected for four orphans of that 
parish, whose father, with his dwelling-house and pro- 
perty, had perished by fire. The spiritual necessities 
of mankind were also kindly considered. Collections 
were made in aid of the Society for Propagating Chris- 
tian Knowledge in the Highlands and Islands of Scot- 
land ; and in the year 1724, a voluntary contribution, 
amounting to L.46, 14s. 4d. Scots^ was gathered for the 
Scots Presbyterian Congregation in New York.f 

Mr. Erskine was careful to promote both a spirit of 



* MS. by Inglis. 



+ Ibid. 



88 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



piety and of Christian benevolence amongst the mem- 
bers of his Session. Conformably to the custom of many 
worthy clergymen, he was accustomed, not only to call 
them together for the exercise of discipline and for ma- 
naging the affairs of the poor, but also to meet regularly 
with them for prayer and spiritual conference. These 
social religious exercises were entirely suited to his taste, 
and truly refreshing to his heart. In one passage of his 
Diary he says : — 

" Monday r , Nov. 9. — The Session met for prayer in 
my room, being the first Monday of the month. I 
prayed last ; was strengthened and helped therein." — 
Shortly after the following expressions occur: " This 
evening the meeting [of the elders] being in my room, 
we were helped to some very heavenly conversation 
about Christ and his glory, and the glory of his ever- 
lasting kingdom. I prayed last, and was strengthened 
in praise, and enlarged to bless the Lord for Christ, and 
the Gospel, and the covenant, and for the Spirit, the 
Comforter, the promise of the Spirit, and the perform- 
ance of the promise in part ; and for Christ's being at 
the right hand of God, and the expediency of his going 
away, that he might send the Spirit ; and also for this, 
that the government of the Church and its concerns is 
in the hands of Christ, and on his shoulders ; and that 
the tongues and hearts, and wrath of men, are in his 
hand." 

It appears too from his Journal, that, amongst the 
private members of his congregation, societies were form- 
ed for prayer and religious conversation, and that he 
was in the habit of encouraging them by at least an oc- 
casional attendance. ' 4 This evening," he writes on a 
Thursday, " in the fellowship meeting, as I was helped 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



89 



in conversation, so in prayer my heart and lips were 
somewhat opened, and my soul quickened in the duty." 

An authentic testimony to the unwearied fidelity with 
which the subject of this memoir prosecuted the work of 
the ministry, is supplied by a minute of the Presbytery of 
Dunfermline respecting a presbyterial visitation of his 
parish, which took place July 4, 1716 : — 

" Mr. Erskine having preached on his ordinary, be- 
ing '2 Cor. v. 14, was asked if he had made timeous in- 
timation of this meeting, to which he answered in the 
affirmative. Then he was removed, and the presbytery, 
having considered his sermon, did approve thereof. 
Then elders and heads of families were called, and the 
usual questions anent Ms soundness in doctrine, dili- 
gence, piety, and orderly walk being asked, they all 
declared their great satisfaction with him on these 
heads. He was called in, and this was intimated to 
him, and he was encouraged to go on in his Masters 
work." The usual questions were then put with regard 
to elders and heads of families, and satisfactory answers 
returned.* 

It may be proper to conclude this chapter with an 
Address, delivered by this approved pastor to his people 
in the year 1741, at the close of the first thirty years 
of his ministry. While he alludes to the new circum- 
stances in which he then stood, as a member of the 
Associate Presbytery, he takes a retrospective view of 
the varied dispensations of providence, gratefully ac- 
knowledges the divine aid he had experienced, and 
the measure of success "with which his labours had 

* Records of Presbyter}- of Dunfermline. 



90 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



been crowned, and earnestly calls upon his hearers to 
inquire into their own state and conduct respectively, 
and to improve their accepted time. This interesting 
Address, which we have found among his short-hand 
papers, is as follows : — 

" On the 7th day of this present month of August, 
thirty years of my ministry in this place have elapsed, 
that thirty years' glass is run out. When God called 
me to this congregation, I scarce ever thought that my 
glass was to run so long in it. Far less did you or I ever 
think that such a scene would open at the end of thirty 
years as has now cast up. Many great sins and grievous 
short-comings I have to acknowledge during these years ; 
and yet also many great mercies, and favourable assist- 
ances in my work, have I to remark. Many dark 
clouds and gloomy shadows have passed over my head ; 
and yet many sweet returns and shining rays of the 
sun of righteousness have I experienced, during my 
ministry these bygone years. The Lord hath hitherto 
helped me. And whatever assistances he has granted 
from time to time, and sometimes success therewith, I 
have never enjoyed more of God's presence and coun- 
tenance in my public work, than since I was brought 
under ecclesiastical sentences and church persecutions. 
What has laid me open thereto I was never ashamed of 
to this day, but rather gloried in it as an honour I was 
never worthy to share of, namely, to be associated with 
those that are publicly witnessing, not only for the doc- 
trines of the gospel I have been so long preaching, but 
also for the royalty of King Jesus, and for supporting 
that hedge of government which Christ has appointed in 
his house, for fencing his doctrines, that they be not 
corrupted and destroyed. This fence, this hedge, was 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



91 



set up in the name of the Lord, and solemnly espoused 
in these lands, and the oath of God interposed therein. 
To the doctrine of grace, thus fenced and hedged, we 
are essaying to stand, in opposition to all that are break- 
ing down the hedge, or silently suffering it to be broken 
down. For this we are sufferers, some one way and 
some another, and myself among the rest. This I 
value not. 

" But, oh ! may I inquire, what has God been doing 
among you these thirty years past ? Most of you, alas ! 
have got little good. Some, by this time, have become 
weary of my ministry, and uneasy that I should con- 
tinue yet to preach in this house [the parish church.] 
But this house shall be a witness against them, that 
these thirty years I have been endeavouring to preach 
Christ to you ; and the other house of meeting for wor- 
ship shall be a witness, when I am in the dust, that my 
ministerial work for thirty years ended in witnessing 
work. Witnessing, among other things, that however 
dear the credit of the ministrv of others was to me. vet 
the credit of my Master, and of his interest and honour, 
when these came in competition, was yet dearer to me ; 
as it ought to be dearer to every one of us than all 
things else. 

" But what account shall I give of my ministry for 
so long a time ? Indeed, though many thousands of 
defects and blemishes have attended it, yet I think I can 
say that I have been made many thousand times, during 
these years, to plead that promise at the throne of grace, 
6 Lo, I am with you always/ as importing not only as- 
sistance to me, but success for you, and your getting 
good by the word, by the power of the Spirit of Christ 
accompanying it. And, though I know, and bless the 



92 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



Lord, that here one, and there one, has been savingly 
touched by the word and turned to the Lord Jesus, yet 
where is the fruit that might have been expected to fol- 
low thirty years' labour ? Who hath believed our report ? 
How few among you are drawn to Christ ? Oh how 
many Sabbaths and week-days have I gone a-fishing 
with the gospel-net, and yet have caught nothing. Oh 
that now, at the end of these years, he would bid me 
cast the net on the right side of the ship, and order a great 
draught ! 

" Many of your parents and friends that witnessed my 
ordination in this place are lying in the dust, and their 
souls inhabiting a happy or miserable eternity. Another 
generation, almost quite new and distinct from that, has 
succeeded ; and yet amidst these changes, my work in 
the ministry has been carried on. What shall I say to 
you that have heard all these years by-gone ? May I 
say, in allusion to what Christ said to Philip, ' Have I 
been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known 
me, Philip ?' So, have I been so long time publishing 
Christ to you, and yet do you not know him ? Have 
you never yet contracted saving acquaintance with him, 
nor attained access to God through him ? What a dis- 
mal matter is this ! Oh, will you now come to him ! The 
gospel-net of grace and mercy is yet open to catch you. 
Come, come, come to J esus, who is saying, 6 Come with 
me from Lebanon.' Before death part you and me, come 
now, come now, that my thirty years' preaching may not 
witness against you to your condemnation. Although 
you have slighted him these thirty years, yet he will 
welcome you. Notwithstanding all the affronts you have 
done him, his bowels yearn towards you. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 93 

* 6 You that are of younger years, what shall I say to 
3^ou ? You have been born, under a gospel dispensation ; 
but woe's me if you have not been born again, by it. O 
that you were flocking in to Jesus, and outrunning those 
that are of greater age, that you may get in at the open 
door of access to Christ ; — that my ministry among you and 
your fathers these thirty years past, may not be lost both 
to you and them. O It shall not be lost, if but this day, 
after all, shall be the day of power, and your heart be 
made to ery for a word of power. 

" Nothing indeed but omnipotency will catch you. 
Thirty years' preaching will not do it. Strangers from 
abroad, preaching, with ever so much fervour and fluency, 
will not do it. Though men and angels should cry to 
you, it will not do it. But there is a powerful cry, a 
powerful voice from the throne of God that can do it, 
even the voice of the Lamb that is in the midst of the 
throne. < The hour cometh, when the dead shall hear 
the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall 
live.' And his voice is, 6 Come to Me.' The minister 
can only say, 6 Come to Him.' But the Master himself 
says, 6 Come to Me ;' and can you sit [disregard] the 
call, when the Master calls thee ? Old man, arise, the 
Master calls you, saying, Come to me. Young man, 
young woman, arise, the Master calls you, saying, Come 
to me. Little children, rise, the Master calls you, say- 
ing, Come to me : — To me that fashioned you in the 
womb ; to me that fed you all your life long ; to me that 
has preserved you in life to this day, that a new offer 
might be made to you ; to me that am able to save and 
to condemn you; to me that has no will to condemn, 
but a good will to save you. Will you not come to 
me ? What ! will you rather go to hell, and to the devil. 

E 



94 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



than come to me? There is more emphasis in the 
word Me than men or angels can express. Come to 
Me, for I am God, and there is none else. It is the 
work of God to draw you. To him I leave it, and to 
his grace I commend you. The Lord bless what has 
been said*" 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



95 



CHAPTER III. 

Death of Rev. Thomas Buchanan, his first Colleague — Funeral 
Sermon — Mr. Erskine unanimously chosen to succeed him as 
first Minister — Differences regarding the settlement of the 
second charge — Presentation to Mr. Christie by the Heritors, 
offensive to the people and the Presbytery, and laid aside — 
Proceedings of the Presbytery and the Commission of Assembly 
— The Rev. James Wardlaic harmoniously chosen, and ad- 
mitted — Notices of Mr. Wardlaw — Concord of the two Col- 
leagues — Esteemed Co-presbyters and Correspondents — Messrs* 
George Mair, Culbert, Hogg, Plenderleath, Bathgate, Thomas 
Mair, and others. 

Mr. Buchanan's affectionate earnestness in urging Mr. 
Erskine to accept of the call to Dunfermline, could 
scarcely fail to excite his gratitude ; and though the dis- 
positions of these two colleagues were perhaps not alto- 
gether congenial, they seem to have co-operated har- 
moniously in the labours of the pastoral office. By the 
determination of a sovereign providence, however, the 
career of the first minister soon came to a close. Having 
gone to Edinburgh, in the year 1714, to discharge his 
duty as a member of the General Assembly, he was 
seized, during his stay in that city, with a palsy, from 
the effects of which most probably he never fully re- 
covered. At a meeting of session on the 20th May. 
Mr. Erskine read a letter from him, earnestly requesting 
that the administration of the Lord's Supper might be 
deferred beyond the time previously fixed, since it not 
only belonged to him to preside in the solemnity, but 
" it would be very crushing to his spirit, if he were ab- 



96 



LIFE AND DIARY GF 



sent/' In compliance with his request, the solemnity 
was postponed till the first Sabbath of July. His 
health, we believe, was not so far restored that he was 
capable of officiating at that time ; and though he did 
return home, and resume in some degree the labours of 
the pulpit, a fresh attack of trouble brought his earthly 
course to an end on the 10th April 1715, little more 
than four years and four months after Iris admission at 
Dunfermline.* 

On the Sabbath after the decease of his colleague, 
Mr, Erskine preached two discourses to his people from 
Zech. i. 5, " Your fathers, where are they ? and the 
prophets, do they live for ever ?" To the first discourse 
on these words, the following memorandum is prefixed 
in Ms note-book : " Funeral sermon on my colleague 
Mr. Buchanan, who died on Sabbath April 10, 1715; 
preached in Dunfermline the Sabbath following, viz. 
April 17, 1715/' These discourses contain much valu- 
able instruction respecting the nature of death, the uni- 
versality of its reign, the difference between the death 
of the wicked and that of the godly, and the reasons of 
God's removing our near and dear relations, as fathers 
and prophets. No particular account is given of Mr. 
Buchanan's character or ministry ; but the general ex- 
pressions employed manifest a becoming respect for his 
memory, and an ardent desire to impress on the minds 
of the people the salutary lessons suggested by his death. 

In his introduction he says : " It is not long since I 
preached on that text, " The time is short ;" and we 
have since had several commentaries upon it, both 
among ministers and people, particularly in this same 
congregation. We are from time to time losing natural 

* MS. by Inglis. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



97 



relations ; and last Sabbath this congregation lost a spi- 
ritual relation, I mean, a minister of the gospel, a rela- 
tion which ought to be as dear and precious as any in 
the world. On such an occasion as this, when God has 
removed your teacher, not into a corner, as the Pro- 
phet speaks, but to the grave, to be careless and uncon- 
cerned were an evidence of very gross stupidity. Oh ! 
sirs, it is a loud speaking providence ; and if you do not 
hear the rod of God's providence and answer the end of it, 
you will come to bear the rod of God's anger for ever." 

In the application of the sermon, the following in- 
ferences among others, are deduced. — <s You may see 
the vanity Gf idolizing your friends, your relations, 
your pastors. Give them no more room in your heart 
than a vanishing creature should have. Why ? ' Your 
fathers, where are they ? and the prophets, do they live 
for ever?' You may have a just value, it is true, for 
the instruments of your being, as fathers and parents, 
and the instruments of your well-being or spiritual ad- 
vantage, as prophets and ministers; but let him that 
liveth for ever have the heart of your heart, and the 
cream ef your affections." — " Is it so, that the prophets 
do not live for ever, that ministers die as well as others ? 
- Then hence you may see what need you have to im- 
prove a preached gospel ; for you cannot be sure that 
the gospel will always be preached to you. He who 
taketh away one minister, can take away all ; and in- 
deed, misimprovement of the gospel, and hnpenitency, 
provoke God to take it away. Rev. ii. 5, " Repent, 
and do the first works, or else I will come unto thee 
quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of its place, 
except thou repent.' God has of late extinguished many 
candles, many burning and shining lights. He has 



98 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



taken away several candlesticks from this same neigh- 
bourhood. You need to pray, sirs, that the Lord may 
set new candlesticks in the room of those which he hath 
taken away, and particularly in this same congregation. 
As you regard the glory of God and the salvation of 
your own souls, as you would have pity on yourselves, 
and pity on the poor individual that is left to labour 
among you alone, pray for another pastor, even one 
according to God's own heart, to be settled among 
you." 

Some time after the death of Mr. Buchanan, his sur- 
viving colleague was unanimously chosen to succeed him 
as first minister of the parish, and regularly admitted to 
that station. The right of filling up the vacancy having 
fallen into the hands of the Presbytery of Dunfermline, 
he received a formal call and invitation from that bod}', 
as well as from the parishioners. An occurrence of this 
kind being now exceedingly rare, we shall give the par- 
ticulars, as detailed in the following extracts from the 
Records of Presbytery : — 

" Saline, Feb. 8, 1716. 

[No proposal having been made for appointing a 
minister to the first charge of the parish of Dunferm- 
line, whilst] " the half-year is now more than elapsed, 
since the death of the Rev. Mr, Buchanan ; therefore 
the Presbytery did and hereby do declare the right of 
the planting of said vacancy, to have now fallen into 
their hands." 

Dunfermline, March 7, 1716. 
" The Presbytery, considering that they have at 
their last meeting, declared that the settlement of the 
vacancy of Dunfermline is now fallen into their hand, 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



99 



yet being resolved that the same shall be settled with a 
gospel minister, with the consent of ike parish, they ap- 
point Mr. Charters and Mr. Logan to speak with the 
town-council, heritors, and elders of the said parish 
anent the settlement thereof, and to report against the 
next meeting of Presbytery. 

At a subsequent meeting, held on the 25th April, 1716, 
the Presbytery having received a favourable report of 
the harmony that prevailed in the parish of Dunferm- 
line with regard to the manner of supplying the vacancy, 
the Rev. Messrs. Gibb and Bryce w ere appointed to meet 
with the heritors, town-council, and elders, to moderate 
in the election of one to be their minister. 

" Dunfermline, May 1, 1716. 

[It was now reported that the appointed moderation 
had taken place, that Mr. Gibb had preached,] " and 
after sermon, several of the heritors, the magistrates, the 
whole town-council, and elders met, and gave their har- 
monious consent that Mr. Areskin be settled minister 
of the vacancy of that parish." A paper containing 
their consent and declaration, was laid on the Presby- 
tery's table by Mr. John Brand, clerk to the meeting. 
" Bailie Wilson did likewise represent, that the magis- 
trates and town -councillors were present, and also the 
kirk-session, who all unanimously signified their earnest 
desire that the Presbytery settle Mr. Areskin in the 
vacancy, and several declared that they knew none of 
the parish against it, and none appeared in the meeting, 
which consisted of a considerable body of people, against 
the same : — Which being considered by the Presbytery, 
they did approve thereof as a sufficient declaration of 
the harmonious choice of the heritors, magistrates, town- 
council, and people of Dunfermline, of Mr. Areskin to 



100 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



be minister to the foresaid vacancy : and further con- 
sidering that the right of calling a minister to the said 
vacancy is now in their hand, jure dercluto. conform to 
their declaration at Saline mentioned in the minute of 
that day. cud therefore give their Presbyterial call to 
Mr. Areskin, the tenor whereof follows : — 

u Vie the Presbytery of Dunfermline undersubscrib- 
ing, being well satisfied of the fitness of you. Mr. Ralph 
Areskin,. minister of the gospel in Dunfermline,, for sup- 
plying the place of the first minister there, now vacant, 
and considering that you were unanimously chosen by 
the heritors, magistrates, town-council and elders of the 
parish of Dunfermline for that post, as appears by their 
consent and declaration given in this day. do hereby 
call and invite you to the said charge, and to enjoy all 
the benefits and emoluments belonging and appertaining 
thereto, and we promise you all due encouragement and 
brotherly-kindness in the Lord : In testimony whereof 
we have subscribed thir presents (written by Mr. John 
Gibb. minister at Cleish, clerk to the Presbytery) at 
Dunfermline the 1st day of May. 1716 years. 

Sic Subs. Robert M c Gill 3 Modr. Alexander Scott. 

James Hogg. Charles Muir, [Culross. ] 

Samuel Charters. John Bryee. [Saline.] 

Allan Logan. John Gibb. 

— — « Which [Call] being delivered to the foresaid Mr. 



Areskin. he judicially accepted thereof; and therefore 
the Presbytery appointed the charge formerly supplied 
by him to be declared vacant, upon Sabbath the 20th 
of this current month of May." 

The Presbyterial visitation, formerly noticed, took 
place about a month after this transaction. Hitherto, 
concord and harmony characterised the proceedings of 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



101 



the parish, Mr. Erskine was installed in the first charge, 
at the unanimous request of heritors, elders, and people, 
and with the cordial approbation of the Presbytery. 
But how soon may a storm arise, to disturb the peace 
of the happiest community on earth. Difficulties oc- 
curred with regard to the settlement of a second minis- 
ter ; and so violent were the animosities which prevailed 
on this point, that it was judged proper, for the space 
of at least two years, to suspend the administration of 
the Lord's Supper in the parish.* 

The great source of contention was a strenuous at- 
tempt on the part of the heritors to settle a young man 
by presentation, in opposition to the general inclinations 
of the people. Since this is a case, which not only 
attracted much attention at that period, but has recently 
been referred to in controversial discussions regarding 
the rights of the Christian people, t it seems proper to 
give an authentic account of the particulars, as narrated 
in the records of the Presbytery of Dunfermline. 

At a meeting of Presbytery, held September 12. 
1716, Sir Peter Halket and others laid on their table 
a presentation subscribed by the heritors, " some few 
excepted," and by some members of the town- council 
in favour of Mr. James Christie, preacher of the gospel 
at Kelso ; and, at the same time, i; declared they would 
only make use of the presentation, as giving said Mr. 
Christie a title to the stipend, if the Presbytery go on 
to call him* <; They being removed, the Presbytery, 
considering this affair, resolve to appoint two of their 
number to inquire into the harmony of the parish, and 

* MS. by Inglis. 

f Sir H. MoncreifFs Life of Dr. Erskine. 



102 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



if they find difficulties, to take advice." The heritors, 
" being called in, this was intimated to them ; where- 
upon they declared their adherence to the presentation : 
Upon which they were told, that the act, restoring pa- 
tronage, and the pretensions of patrons, were contrary 
to our principles, and that that yoke was a heavy and 
grievous burden ; whereof this church and nation were 
so far sensible, that both our Assemblies and Commis- 
sions had expressed their uneasiness about it in their 
addresses, and that the present Commission were to 
address the King and Parliament for relief ; and that it 
becomes us, as men of probity, to declare so much." 

It was agreed, that the Rev. Messrs. Hogg and Muir 
should " meet with the heritors, magistrates, town- 
council, elders, and people of Dunfermline, on Thursday 
the 20th instant, to understand what harmony is in that 
parish for electing a minister to supply their vacancy ; 
and that Mr. Hogg preach there at that time, and that 
Mr. Areskin make public intimation hereof next Sab- 
bath." 

When the Presbytery met again on September 26, 
1716, Messrs. Hogg and Muir reported that, according 
to appointment, they had met with the people of Dun- 
fermline, after sermon by Mr. Hogg; and that they 
" found no harmony in that parish for calling a minister." 
At a subsequent meeting on the 24th October, Sir Peter 
Halket and some other heritors appeared, soliciting the 
settlement of Mr. Christie, according to the presenta- 
tion. The Presbytery, in consequenc ?, " appoint Mr. 
Charters to meet with all concerned in the parish of 
Dunfermline^ in the choice and calling of a minister, on 
the 20th November next, and that he preach there, 
and if he find any suitable harmony, that he moderate 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



103 



in their electing and calling one to be settled minister 
in their vacancy." The heritors, however, offended at 
this measure, and anxious that the Presbytery should 
proceed forthwith to expedite Mr. Christie's settlement, 
gave in a protestation and appeal to the Synod of Fife 
and the General Assembly. 

The Presbytery having met at Dunfermline, April 
17, 1717, by appointment of Synod; the heritors de- 
clared, that they would insist on their appeal to the 
Assembly, " unless the Presbytery would make their 
desire as to Mr. Christie effectual." Yet, on the 22d 
May ensuing, it was reported, " that the gentlemen had 
passed from their appeal, there being none from the 
parish of Dunfermline this day, making any motion tor 
wards the settlement thereof." At a subsequent meet- 
ing, on the 16th October 1717, a new presentation, 
nevertheless, was given in to the Presbytery in favour 
of the same Mr. Christie, now minister of the parish of 
Simprin. The Presbytery, however, delayed the affair, 
and appointed several of their number to wait on the 
heritors and others, to make fresh inquiry respecting the 
harmony subsisting in the parish ; in consequence of 
which the heritors appealed to the Commission. 

On the 11th November 1717, the ministers reported, 
" that they found the kirk-session, most of the town- 
council, and even some of them that had signed the 
presentation for Mr. Christie, and several heritors, most 
desirous that the design anent Mr. Christie should be 
laid aside, and that there should be a leet agreed on by 
all concerned, and one chosen out of that leet to be 
minister of the vacancy of that parish." Two represen- 
tations were now laid on the Presbytery's table ; one 
subscribed by six heritors and ten councillors, and 



104 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



another from the kirk-session ; both requesting that the 
design respecting Mr. Christie should be relinquished ; 
and that if the appeal be insisted on, these representa- 
tions should be laid before the Commission. In these 
papers it was stated, that the aversion to Mr. Christie, 
which was great before, had now considerably increased. 
The Presbytery were " unanimously of opinion" that 
the design for Mr. Christie should be laid aside, and 
accordingly appointed their brethren, members of the 
Commission, to concur with his opponents, and among 
other things, " to represent to the said Commission 
that the Synod of Fife had expressly prohibited the 
Presbyteries of their bounds to settle any parish with 
ministers, unless there be a harmonious consent of the 
people^ as the foundation of a pastoral relation." 

The Commission of Assembly, however, disregarding 
the unanimous judgment of the Presbytery on this point, 
gave sentence in favour of the presentation, and appoint- 
ed them to concur in the translation of Mr. Christie, and 
ordered the Synod of Fife, also, if necessary, to see this 
matter accomplished. The Presbytery, at a meeting 
on the 11th December 1717, after considering this 
sentence of the Commission, agreed to delay the affair. 
When they met again, January 22, 1718, they resumed 
the Dunfermline cause. None of the brethren of Cupar 
and Kirkaldy Presbyteries, appointed by the Commis- 
sion to correspond with them, made their appearance. 
Adam Holland of Gask laid on the table a representa- 
tion, subscribed by several heritors, most of the magis- 
trates and counsellors, and several hundreds of heads of 
families, expressing a decided aversion to the proposed 
settlement of Mr. Christie. The Presbytery, therefore, 
referred the matter anew to the Commission, to meet in 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



105 



March, and appointed some members to prepare reasons 
for this reference. The Commission, influenced pro- 
bably in some degree by the force of the reasons laid 
before them, were pleased to alter their tone. Instead 
of imperiously enjoining the Presbytery to proceed to 
the admission of Mr. Christie, they now acquiesced in 
measures more conducive to edification and peace ; as 
appears from the following extract of the minutes of 
Presbytery : — 

"Dunfermline, March 19, 1718. — As to the affair of 
Dunfermline, the brethren report that the Commission, 
with the consent of all parties, had appointed the follow- 
ing probationers to be employed in preaching at Dun- 
fermline, namely, Mr. Sidserf Mr. Wederspoo?is, Mr* 
Scott, and Mr. Dalgleish ; and that after the parish had 
heard them preach, there be a meeting of heritors, ma- 
gistrates, town- counsellors, and elders ; that he of the 
said leet, who shall be chosen by the majority of the 
said meeting, be called, and settled in that vacancy; 
and that the Presbytery of Dunfermline, at their next 
meeting, invite the said young men to their bounds." 

All these probationers, with the exception of Mr. 
Wederspoons, whose services it was found impracticable 
to obtain, having preached at Dunfermline, the Presby- 
tery made every effort to forward the business. After 
two abortive attempts, a decisive Moderation at last 
took place on the 21st of August ; yet, according to the 
following extract, the Call turned out, not in favour of 
any one of the four candidates proposed, with consent of 
parties, by the Commission, but for the Rev. James 
Wardlaw. 

« Dunfermline, August 27, 1718."— The Rev. Mr. 
Logan reported, that he and Mr. Bryce having met with 



106 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



those concerned in calling a minister to Dunfermline, 
" the question being put, whether they might add to the 
Commission's leet or not, it carried that they might add 
thereto. Then liberty was granted to all concerned to 
put upon the leet whom they pleased ; that a leet being 
made in which all acquiesced, and the votes of the meet- 
ing being called, all, except four or five, gave their votes 
to the Rev. Mr. James Wardlaw, minister of the gos- 
pel at Cruden, to minister to their vacancy ; and that 
they subscribed a Call to the said Mr. Wardlaw, which 
he [Mr. Logan,] with the said Mr. Bryce, had attested." 

Captain Halket and others appeared at the same time 
producing the Call, and requesting the Presbytery to 
sustain it, and adopt measures for making it effectual. 
It was opposed only by a single individual, Mr. Black- 
wood, younger of Pitreavie, who alleged that it was con- 
trary to what was done by the Commission. The Pres- 
bytery sustained the Call, and appointed Messrs. Gibb 
and Hepburn to prosecute it before the Presbytery of 
Ellon, and other judicatories, as might be necessary. 

At a meeting on the 29th Oct. 1718, " the Moderator 
informed the Presbytery that Messrs. Gibb and Hepburn 
informed him, that they had obtained the transportation 
of Mr. Wardlaw, and wished it to be speedily accomplish- 
ed." All proper expedition was consequently used, and, 
on the 20th of November, 1718, after a sermon by the 
Rev. James Hogg, on Heb. xiii. 1 7, Mr. Wardlaw was 
admitted second minister of Dunfermline, according to 
the rules of the church. 

A happy termination was thus put to a scene of dis- 
cord and confusion which had continued for upwards of 
two years, and must have proved very distressing to the 
pastor, as well as injurious to the interests of religion in 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



107 



the parish. His sister, Mrs. Balderston, alludes to this 
affair in the following brief memorandum : — 

" Edinburgh, March 13, 1718 I had a great weight 

upon my spirits on account of Dunfermline and my bro- 
ther, who had the reproach of tongues to bear. But I 
thought of Jer. ix. Isaiah xiv. ult. 2 Cor. i. and Psalm 
ci. ; and before I slept, there was a song of praise put 
into my mouth on his account." 

By concurring with the Presbytery in firmly resisting 
those measures by which the heritors pertinaciously at- 
tempted to effectuate the settlement of a minister, who 
was unacceptable to the parish, he could hardly fail to 
give umbrage to those gentlemen, and to incur their ill- 
founded invectives. Let it be carefully observed, how- 
ever, that all the circumstances of this interesting case 
combine to show, that both he and his co-presbyters, 
far from contemning or overlooking the rights and wishes 
of the people, did every thing practicable at the time, to 
vindicate their privileges, and to supply them with a 
pastor whose character and ministrations commanded 
their esteem. Impelled by these liberal views, they 
even ventured, as we have seen, towards the conclusion 
of the affair, to transgress the letter, though possibly not 
the spirit, of the Commission's appointment, by sustain- 
ing a Call to a candidate, whose name was not included 
in the leet which that court had authorized.* 

The Rev. James Wardlaw is entitled to high com- 
mendation, as a sincere Christian, a faithful pastor, and 
an agreeable colleague. He was born about the year 
1673, at a small village in the parish of Saline. His 

• See Appendix, No. IV. 



103 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



father, Henry Wardlaw, Esq. removed some time after 
to West Luscar, an estate in the parish of Carnock 
which belonged to him, and was inherited by James. 
His parents, being attached to Episcopacy, trained him 
up in that persuasion ; but, at an early period of his life, 
he began to feel and to avow a decided predilection for 
the Presbyterian system. Along with a brother, who sur- 
vived but a few years, he studied philosophy and divinity 
at the University of St. Andrews. He was licensed to 
preach the gospel by the Presbytery of Dunfermline, at 
the same time with Mr* Ralph Erskine. For several 
years previous to his receiving license, he sustained the 
office of a Ruling Elder. He was invested with this office, 
it appears, on the 13th February, 1704, in the parish of 
Carnock, where he maintained "the strictest union of 
sentiment" with the venerable and worthy Mr. Hogg.* 
In a minute of the Session of Dunfermline, dated January 
26, 1715, it is recorded that Mr. James Wardlaw, pro- 
bationer, formerly an elder in the parish of Carnock, was 
admitted an elder of this congregation, and took his seat. 
In the parish of Cruden, where he was first settled as a 
minister, his comfort and usefulness were considerably 
obstructed by the zealous attachment of the people to 
Episcopalian principles and forms. For this and other 
reasons, he cheerfully accepted of the Call to Dunferm- 
line. " It appears from the Presbytery Records, that 
when called to renew his subscription to the Confession 
of Faith, he did it with an explanation regarding the ex- 
tent of the death of Christ. He steadily maintained the 
adequate sufficiency of the atonement for the salvation 
of all men, while he, no doubt, restricted its efficiency to 

* Brown's Gospel Truth, p. 159, 2d edit. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



109 



the elect."* No inconsiderable evidence of his Christian 
temper and prudent demeanour is furnished by the fact, 
that he was very harmoniously invited to take the pas- 
toral oversight of a people, by many of whom he was 
well known from his youth. A hearty welcome too 
was given him by Mr. Erskine, who was truly grieved 
at the circumstances which had kept the second charge 
so long vacant, and happy to receive the assistance of a 
fellow-labourer so worthy of his esteem, and so much 
beloved and respected by the people. 

United by the endearing bonds of Christian friend- 
ship, and deeply impressed with the importance of en- 
tire harmony and cordial co-operation, as equally essen- 
tial to their own happiness and the success of their 
pastoral labours, in the delicate connexion subsisting 
betwixt them, — these two colleagues, within less than a 
month after Mr. Wardlaw's admission, drew up and 
formally subscribed a paper of mutual agreement, which, 
from its minuteness and general good sense, seems not 
unworthy the attention of other ministers that are placed 
in similar circumstances. We shall here copy it, as 
formerly published, " from the original manuscript," in 
a periodical work.y 

" Some Rides and Principles agreed upon betwixt Mr. 
James Wardlaw and Jlr. Ralph Erskine, in order 
to the maintaining a good understanding betwixt them 
in their collegiate ministry in the parish of Dunferm- 
line. 

"At Dunfermline, the 10th December, 1718. 
" ImO) That we shall not receive or entertain any ill 

* Brown's Gospel Truth, p. 159. 

f Christ. Keposit. Vol. iii. Pp. 391—3. 



110 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



report of one another, no not from the wife of our 
bosom, or dearest or nearest friend or acquaintance; 
and whatever we may hear that may occasion any 
jealousy, we shall not give it any entertainment, till first 
we have made inquiry thereinto, by a friendly communi- 
cation for removing any mistakes. 

" 2do, That in all our public administrations, and mu- 
tual helpfulness to one another in our work, we shall not 
be under the management of our wives, nor any other's 
counsel or advice, when it comes to interfere with, and 
run in opposition to, those duties of love and neighbour- 
hood, agreement, and fellowship, that we owe to one 
another, especially in matters wherein we need one an- 
other's help. 

" Stio, That upon any call in Providence that may re- 
quire our absence from any congregational work, we 
shall endeavour to be mutually helpful to one another, 
whether in preaching or in any other ministerial work 
on week day or Sabbath day ; such as visiting the sick, 
catechising in our colleague's quarter, as well as in our 
own, when there is a call in Providence thereto. 

" 4to, That whatever respect or disrespect is shown 
by the people to one of us more than another, it shall 
not, through grace, have any influence upon our grudg- 
ing or entertaining ill sentiments about one another, or 
diminish that regard and love that we should bear to- 
wards one another, whatever difference may be in 
people's carriage in preferring one of us before another. 

" 5to, That in matters of moment, wherein we are 
both equally and mutually concerned, we shall act by 
previous concert, particularly in all our public intima- 
tions about visiting, catechising, or the like, when it is 
possible for us to concert together, and that in all mat- 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



Ill 



ters of less moment or indifferent, (wherein Satan may 
seek to get advantage of us, as well as in greater mat- 
ters,) we shall mutually yield to one another. 

" 6to, That we not only keep up a good corre- 
spondence between ourselves, but endeavour to conciliate 
ail that love and respect from the people to each other 
that is possible, seeing that it is for the furtherance of 
the gospel that people entertain love and respect to us 
both ; and, therefore, that none of us shall hear or give 
entertainment to any thing that may be spoken (either 
by good or bad) to the disadvantage of his colleague, 
without resentment, or endeavouring his just vindication 
in all proper ways ; and, therefore, whatever we shall 
hear as ungrateful to people, either in method or man- 
ner of speech, or whatever is reckoned amiss, whether 
in our public administrations, or private communica- 
tions, we shall, in a friendly manner, communicate it to 
each other, without taking offence at one another's free- 
dom ; and that we shall entertain no insinuations of 
people's commending or applauding one of us beyond 
another, which may any way tend to the detriment or 
discouragement of any one of us, without endeavouring, 
at the same time, (if occasion can allow,) to drop what 
may have a tendency to make our fellows have the same 
respect, that may be pretended toward ourselves, by those 
who make such insinuations. 

" ImO) That whatever we reckon amiss in any part of 
our ministerial management, whether with respect to 
doctrine, discipline, or any such thing, we shall, in a 
friendly way, caution and confer with each other there- 
anent ; also, that we bear with one another's weaknesses, 
and, in a friendly manner, make each other (if possible) 
sensible thereof, in order to our and other people's ad- 



112 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



vantage, thus employing our endeavours to draw in the 
same yoke. 

" 8vo, That we keep not up, nor attend, any separate 
societies in the congregation, without mutual consent or 
endeavours to have each other the same way stated and 
concurred thereabout as we ourselves may be ; and that 
we take no separate lead in any part of our ministerial 
work without previous consent ; and that we indulge not 
any keeping up a more close correspondence with one 
of us than with another, such as may tend to cause any 
thing of alienation in them to any of us, or to cause in 
us toward one another. 

" 9no, That we allow no difference or distinction of 
one before another as to matters of our public ministry, 
or even as to matters of common civility ; not taking any 
honorary place of another (except when necessity, order, 
and decency obliges us,) but being kindly affectionate 
one to another, with brotherly love, in honour preferring 
one another. 

" 10/720, That we shall endeavour to strengthen one 
another's hands, not only in public, in our praying and 
preaching, confirming what truth and safe doctrine our 
colleague hath advanced, but also in private, when oc- 
casion offers ; that we shall endeavour to show ourselves 
concerned, as for the success of our own, so of one 
another's labours ; studying to inculcate upon people the 
doctrine of the gospel preached by our colleague, as well 
as that by ourselves, 

(Signed) Ralph Erskine. 

Jas. Wardlaw." 

The brotherly concord, thus solemnly pledged, was 
happily maintained for a long series of years. Mr. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



113 



Erskine's manuscripts furnish numerous proofs of the 
high esteem he entertained for his colleague, and of the 
great comfort they enjoyed in each other. He alludes, 
occasionally, to the pleasure and advantage he reaped 
from his instructive conversation. At one time, when 
attending a prayer meeting in his house, he requested 
him, and others present, to implore the divine aid to be 
afforded to himself in the performance of important 
services he had in prospect. In the year 1723, he bap- 
tized one of Mr. Wardlaw's children, and preached from 
these words in Gen. xxxiii. 5, " The children which God 
hath graciously given thy servant." Mr. Wardlaw, as we 
shall afterwards find, performed a number of similar ser- 
vices for him, and that in a very friendly and impressive 
manner.* In various note-books, Mr. Erskine has re- 
corded valuable memoranda of his colleague's discourses. 
In his Diary, he repeatedly states not merely his appro- 
bation of them, but the spiritual enlargement they were 
the blessed means of imparting ; some, in particular, that 
were delivered on sacramental occasions. Let two in- 
stances suffice :— 

Sabbath, July 16, 1732. In the time of my col- 
league's action sermon upon the sufferings of Christ, the 
Lord gave me much of a sweet melting frame in look- 
ing towards a crucified Christ, and many heart-melting 
actings of faith, which dissolved me in tears in hearing. 
Then I went down to the table with my colleague, and 
had, I may say, communion with God through Christ 
in a way of believing, both while the psalm was singing, 
and while the words of institution were reading, and in 
the distribution of the elements. And when I received 



* eh. x. 



114 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



the elements, I had many distinct actings of faith upon 
Christ, such as made me melt before God, viewing him 
as a promising God, and laying hold upon his faithful- 
ness. After communicating, I served two tables and 
was helped therein. Then I went into the house, and 
shutting up myself in a closet, poured out my heart in 
thankful acknowledgment of the Lord's goodness and 
mercy, and expressed my confidence in him through 
Christ as a promising God, who had allowed me a seal 
of the covenant of promise, and allowed me to apply. 
I preached in the evening on Ezek. xliii. 12. < This is 
the law of the house. Upon the top of the mountain the 
whole limit thereof round about shall be most holy. Be- 
hold this is the law of the house.' My doctrine was, 
that universal holiness is so much the law of God's house, 
that the whole family being privileged with access to a 
most holy place, are under the strongest obligations to 
be a most holy people. I was helped in delivering ; and 
it being late, I referred part of the application, which I 
delivered in the tent on the Monday.* Lord, glorify 
thy name." 

" Sabbath, July 11, 1736 — I got leave to roll myself, 
and my work and furniture for it, upon the Lord ; and, 
I may say, that as my heart trusted in him, so I was 
helped ; — helped in hearing my colleague, to hear with 
some application of the testament confirmed by the death 
of the Testator ; helped in prayer, when he prayed for 
the blessing on the elements, while 1 sat at the Lord's 
Table; helped to look towards Jesus with a mourning 
weeping eye ; helped to look to him in the promise of 

* The sermon here referred to is one of his published dis- 
courses. See his Works, Vol. i. Pp. 627—639. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



115 



the Spirit, and in the promise of his presence. My 
heart was humbled and poured out before the Lord at 
the table ; and I was assisted, immediately afterwards* 
in serving two tables. The matter I was directed to 
in the first of them, was given in hearing my colleague, 
particularly on the necessity of the death of the Tes- 
tator : which led me to a view of a manifold gracious 
necessity ; namely, of his death, of his ascending to glory, 
of the Spirit's coming, and of the soul's coming to Christ, 
according to the word, 6 Them also I must bring ;' and 
then, afterwards, the necessity of the believer's suffering 
here, and then entering into glory. These thoughts, I 
found, were useful to some. Sermon at night was de- 
layed, because the tables were so numerous. I preached 
on Monday at the tent, after my brother, and was help- 
ed." 

Whilst these pious colleagues attended one another's 
public ministrations with delight and advantage, they 
were enabled also to go hand in hand, in conducting 
matters of discipline and order in the parish. They 
cheerfully concurred with each other, for instance, as 
well as with the whole session, in urging, though with- 
out effect, the erection of one or more new churches, to 
supply the spiritual necessities of the increasing popula- 
tion. On the 25th February, 1730, " it was proposed 
that the elders should prepare a list of all the examinable 
persons within their several quarters, in order to lay be- 
fore the Presbytery the state of this vast congregation, 
and the necessity of a new erection of more churches in 
this parish ; which proposal was gone into by the ses- 
sion." So early, indeed, as the year 1713, a similar re- 
presentation had been made by Messrs. Buchanan and 
Erskine, with their elders, to Lord Bowhill, whom the 



116 



LIFE AND DIARY CF 



Lords of Session had appointed to visit and divide the 
church of Dunfermline. They stated that the charge 
was by far too great for the two ministers, and that " the 
church could not contain above the half of the people."* 

Messrs. Erskine and WardJaw maintained their accus- 
tomed harmony also, on occasion of a difference which 
arose in spring 11 2b, regarding an appointment to the 
omee of reader or precentor, and which was carried to 
so great a height as to prevent the administration of the 
Lord's Supper, both that year and the following. Cap- 
tain Peter Halket of Pitferren, having, on April 22d, 
offered to the session a Presentation by the Marquis of 
Tweeddale in favour of Mr. John Hart, " Doctor of the 
Grammar School," to hold that office, Mr. Wardlaw 
protested that no regard shall be shown to this presen- 
tation, any further than to give a legal right to the 
Presentee, to the Queen's donation in favour of the music 
master and precentor in this place. To this protest Mr. 
Erskine, with the majority of the session, adhered. They 
all agreed in assigning as a principal reason for the pro- 
testation, that such procedure went to deprive the minis- 
ters and elders of their undoubted right to choose then 
own precentor, asserted by the Directory. 

In January 1730, shortly after the death of Mr. John 
Brand, precentor, when a new presentation was laid 
before the session in favour of the same Mr. Hart, 
they unanimously refused to sustain it. The Marquis, 
however, now prosecuted them before the Court of 
Session, and obtained a sentence favourable to his claim. 
But while the ministers and elders were obliged to ac- 
quiesce in that decision, they expressed then submission 



• MS. by Inglis, 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



117 



in guarded language, which proved offensive to his lord- 
ship, and provoked him to threaten them with a new 
law-suit. In this juncture, the Session recorded their 
opinion, partly, in the following spirited terms :- — 

" Although the Lords of Session have found reader 
and precentor to be om, which yet were always distinct 
in this place, (as our records demonstrate,) and that the 
presentation to the reader gives a right to the kirk emo- 
luments, which was never in use before in this place ; 
yet by their decreet they have not found the ministers of 
Dunfermline cannot be precentors themselves, if they 
please, to their own congregation, or take the assistance 
of any therein whom they or the Session think fit to 
employ/' " If the Marquis designed to take advantage 
of the decreet of the Lords of Session, so narrowly pass- 
ed by the casting vote of the Lord President, and to take 
advantage of the mean circumstances of the Session of 
Dunfermline, we cannot hinder him ; but withal, as it 
will be the first instance they know of any minister or 
Session being prosecuted on such a narrow point as 
this is now come to — for reserving to themselves the 
privilege of precenting either by themselves, or taking 
what help they think fit, (which they maintain not for 
contention but for principle,) so, as long as the law of the 
land establishing Presbytery is in force, we hope it will 
allow no prosecution against any ecclesiastical court for 
their adhering to Presbyterian principles." — " The Ses- 
sion of Dunfermline humbly think his Lordship would 
be better employed, if he were considering what mea- 
sures to take for supplying this numerous congregation 
with more kirks and ministers ; our kirk not being ca- 
pable of containing the parish, which, consisting of more 

F 



118 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



than 6000 examinable persons, would require, at least, 
that two congregations more should be taken from it." 

During this contest betwixt the Marquis and the 
Session, the ministers themselves sometimes occupied 
the precentor's desk, as appears from the following 
entries in Mr. Erskine's Diary : — 

" Sabbath, Dec. 24, 1732 — This day my colleague 
and I were precentors to ourselves, and raised the psalm, 
because of the Marquis's decreet, which he was insisting 
upon." " Tliursday, Dec. 28 — This day I precented 
for my colleague in the church." " Sabbath, Dec. 31. — 
I precented for my colleague, and he for me." 

This unhappy misunderstanding was at length ad- 
justed; and, in May 1734, when the Marquis hand- 
somely entertained the magistrates and council, Messrs. 
Erskine and Wardlaw received an invitation to dine with 
him, which they readily accepted. 

The public concerns of the church, as well as the 
affairs of their own parish, generally appeared to these 
like-minded colleagues in the same light. In bearing 
testimony to the precious doctrines injured by the Acts 
of Assembly condemning the Marrow of Modern Di- 
vinity, and in vindicating the sacred rights of the people 
in opposition to the stern decisions of the church courts 
in favour of patronage, they cordially united. Their 
mutual harmony was sustained and sanctified by prayer. 
On the least appearance of discord relating to any point, 
great or small, Mr. Erskine betook himself to the throne 
of grace, imploring the divine aid and guidance for the 
speedy restoration of peace. Thus at a time when he 
felt hurt at his colleague's deviation from their concerted 
plan of proceeding with regard to the visitation and exa- 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



119 



mination of the parish, he has the following memo- 
randa: — 

" Feb. 22, 1733.— Some words a little hard passed 
betwixt my colleague and me, respecting the breach 
made upon the uniformity of our public work." — Feb. 
24. After reading with some attention, my heart was 
poured out, looking to the Lord that I might not be 
ashamed of my hope — my hope of the Spirit, because 
my hope was in the word, and in the Lord, the speaker 
in the promises ; — that I might not be ashamed of my 
hope of the divine presence in my ministerial w T ork ; and 
that he might mercifully order what difference was be- 
twixt my colleague and me, and bring it to such an 
issue, that the enemy might get no advantage, but that 
i the God of peace might bruise Satan under our feet.' " 

The open breach which happened between them a 
few years after, when Mr. Erskine completely seceded 
from the national church, will fall to be noticed in a 
subsequent part of this work.* 

Mr. Erskine enjoyed much happiness not only in his 
colleague Mr. Wardlaw, but also in many other clerical 
friends, with whom he was accustomed to associate from 
time to time, particularly on sacramental occasions, 
mingling sweet confidential intercourse in private with 
conjunct appearances in public duty. From the native 
fervours of an affectionate temper, sanctified and refined 
by divine grace, he identified himself, to a singular de- 
gree, with his dear brethren, whom he " loved in the 
truth " Though somewhat ample accounts of these 
brethren, therefore, had been introduced in this narra- 

•See Ch. V. 



i 



120 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



tive, they could not have been justly regarded as an 
unwarrantable diverging from its proper subject. We 
must content ourselves, however, with a few brief notices, 
relating partly to some of his co-presbyters, and partly 
to others. 

Amongst the members of the Presbytery of Dun- 
fermline, the first place seems due to the Rev. George 
Mair, who, as has been stated, was his pastor and friend 
some years prior to his entrance on public life. Mr. 
Mair, we believe, was first settled at Airth. He was 
afterwards translated to Culross, where the Rev. James 
Fraser, of Brae, was his colleague till September 1698, 
when " that holy and learned man" died at Edinburgh, 
in the 60th year of his age.* Circumstances occurred 
which induced him, in summer 1714, to accept of a 
Call to Tulliallan, where he laboured till his death, 
which took place a few years after. Mr. Boston re- 
peatedly mentions Mr. Mair in terms of cordial esteem.f 
His deep piety, and the spirituality of his conversation, 
no less than his ardent attachment to the peculiar doc- 
trines of Christianity, made a strong impression on that 
good man's heart, at the commencement of his own 
career as a preacher of the gospel. It was in Mr. 
Mair's house that he saw the first example of a family 
fast ; and it led him afterwards to introduce this branch 
of domestic piety into his own habitation. His opinion 
of his public usefulness, too, is thus expressed, " I reckon 
that worthy man one of the happy instruments of the 
breaking forth of a more clear discovery of the doctrine 
of the gospel in this church, in these latter days thereof." 

* Boston's Memoirs, p. 40, first ed. 
f Ibid. Pp. 45, 57, 104, 105. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



121 



We have formerly noticed the profound veneration 
in which Ebenezer Erskine held Mr. Mair, and the 
fatherly attention he experienced from him, when his 
eyes were beginning to open on evangelical truth.* 
That his brother Ralph regarded him with similar sen- 
timents, is evident from his marked encomiums on his 
discourses, which we have already seen ;f and still 
further, from a long elegy on him, found in one of his 
aiote-books, of which the following lines are a part :— 

u He was a burning and a shining light, 
In doctrine ardent, and in practice bright. 
Sweet in his converse, sober in his talk, 
Meek in his worship, modest in his walk ; 
In pulpit did a holy hero prove, 
In private intercourse a harmless dove. 
In him lamb-meekness, lion-boldness shone, 
Bold in his Master's cause, meek in his own. 

" How can we choose but mournfully lament 
The loss of one so great, so eminent, 
Who from pure zeal immortal souls to save, 
Did preach his mortal body to the grave. 
But, lo ! the sermons of his dying breath 
Proclaim his glorious victory over death. 
His text, ( I know that my Redeemer lives,' 
Did usher in th' event which us bereaves. 
Knowing his season, like the heaven-taught stork, 
With this sweet theme, he closed his pulpit work ; 
Thus crown'd his Lord with glory of the whole, 
Then to his loving hands resign'd his soul, 
Which now its heavenly Tabor-top has reach'd 
To praise the glorious grace which here he preach'd. 
With that to preach, thought time too short always, 
Thinks now eternity too short to praise." 

* Life of Eben. Erskine, Pp. 160—162. f Ch ap. I. P. 30. 



122 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



The Rev. James Cuthbert, Mr. Mair's colleague 
at Cuiross, possessed an equal share in Ralph's affec- 
tionate regard. His obligations to him at the time of 
receiving licence and ordination, as has been stated,* 
he frankly acknowledges. Mr. Cuthbert was settled 
at Cuiross in September 1708 ; and after exercising his 
ministry with great fidelity and approbation, died there 
in October 1715. Mr. Erskine, more than twenty 
years after his death, wrote " An Elegiac Poem" to 
his memory, which is published in his Works, f with a 
Preface, stating the reasons for writing it, and the 
causes of the delay. The poem, or rather poems, (for 
it includes one elegy in English, and another in Latin) 
extends to nearly four folio pages. Mr. Cuthbert is 
eulogized at great length, as excelling at once in the 
gifts of nature, art, and grace ; eminent for wit, fortitude, 
and humility; innocently cheerful and sprightly in con- 
versation ; noted for evangelical sentiments and spiritu- 
ality of mind ; and, as a preacher, faithful, profound, 
and eloquent, equally acceptable to the learned and the 
illiterate. It is mentioned in the Preface, that being 
skilled in poetry, as well as almost every other branch 
of learning, he had encouraged Mr. Erskine in attempts 
at poetic composition, and that he had enjoyed " very 
familiar intercourse with him by word and writ, even in 
that strain." From the poem itself it appears, that he 
frequently received from him the designation of " my 
son Timothy f and, moreover, that he had the satisfac- 
tion to see him on his death-bed, where he celebrated 
the praises of the master he had served, and expressed 



* Chap. L P. 39, 

t Vol. ii« Pp. 778—782- 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



123 



his joyful hope of a glorious resurrection. Mr. Mair. 
who survived him, though then minister of another 
parish, honoured his memory by preaching a sermon 
suited to the occasion of his decease. 

" Declaring, by his death there fell, 
A great man, yea, a prince in Israel." 

Amongst all his co-presbyters there was perhaps none 
whom the subject of tins memoir more deeply venerated 
than the Rev. James Hogg of Carnock, a man of un- 
common worth, learning, and zeal. In early youth he 
lost a pious father, whom it pleased God to remove by a 
triumphant death ; but his surviving parent with her 
children, experienced the care of him who " relieveth 
the fatherless and widow." Excluded by the intolerant 
policy of that age from the seminaries of learning in 
Scotland, he repaired to a Dutch University : where, 
together with a brother, he prosecuted the study of 
languages, philosophy, and theology. For some time 
he was intrusted with the tuition of two young noble- 
men at the Hague, where he had frequent opportu- 
nities of conversing " with persons of quality and 
others, who were travelling heaven-wards." Many of 
these," he adds in his Memoirs of himself, " met in re- 
ligious societies for prayer and spiritual conference, in 
which I enjoyed no small pleasure."* He was not only 
pious from his youth, but deeply thoughtful. At an 

* See Memoirs of Mr. Hogg's religious experience, published 
from his own MSS. by the Her. John Brown of Haddington, in 
his Christian Student and Pastor Exemplified, Pp. 77 — 150. 
Also the Memoir of Mr. Hogg contained in Gospel Truth, Pp. 
39—53. 



124 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



early period of his life, he was penetrated with most 
humbling convictions of his own guilt and vileness as a 
sinner, and blessed with a reviving discovery of the way 
of salvation. Spiritual light and comfort were imparted 
to his soul, chiefly by means of commmiication with the 
Rev. Thomas Hogg of Kiltearn, whom he met with in 
the Tolbooth of Edinburgh, and with whom he afterwards 
corresponded by letters. During his stay in Holland 
he experienced many distressing mental conflicts, and 
many gracious deliverances. The horrid temptations he 
felt and was enabled to conquer, were not only over- 
ruled for the establishment of his own faith, but prepar- 
ed him to act the part of a sympathizing counsellor to 
others similarly tried. Amidst impressions of the vast 
importance of the sacred office, almost overpowering, he 
still persisted in a course of theological studies. Con- 
scientious scruples, relating to some ecclesiastical rules 
observed by the Reformed Church in Holland, prevent- 
ed him from complying with the advice of several friends 
who wished him to become a minister of that church. 
Soon after the Revolution, he returned to his native 
country, where he was licensed ; and two competing 
Calls having appeared for him, the preference was given 
to Dalserf, in the Presbytery of Hamilton. A species 
of persecution he met with from several of his co-pres- 
byters led him, after a few years, to demit his charge. 
He was subsequently settled at Carnock, where he con- 
tinued to minister faithfully till his death, which took 
place at Edinburgh, amidst the supplications of his friends, 
in the year 1736. His ministrations at Carnock seem 
to have been eminently blessed. To a vigorous judg- 
ment and solid learning, he added a share of fortitude, 
which singularly qualified him for the defence of the 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



125 



truth. He testified, with peculiar warmth, against what 
he considered defective and wrong in the arrangements 
relative to the Church of Scotland adopted at the Revo- 
lution.* Though his loyalty was unquestionable, yet 
because he had conscientiously declined the qualifying 
oaths, he was excluded from his seat in the General As- 
sembly 1695; and when admitted in 1701, he renewed 
his exertions in support of the intrinsic power of the 
church.-)- His appearances in the Marrow controversy 
are well known. He published not only a recommen- 
datory Preface to the Marrow of Modern Divinity, but a 
variety of pamphlets, explaining the passages objected to 
in that work, and vindicating its leading tenets. The 
candour and integrity he discovered, when examined in 
the year 1720 by the Assembly's Committee for purity 
of doctrine, procured the marked approbation of that 
Committee. Yet, owing chiefly to the tenor of the First 
Dialogue on the Marrow Controversy, and of several 
other anonymous publications that were generally im- 
puted to him, he was, of all the twelve Representing 
Brethren, the most obnoxious to the ecclesiastical lead- 
ers of the day. Beside these controversial pieces, he 
published a number of other little works, including Notes 
about the Spirit's Operations, and a Treatise on the 
Covenant of Grace and Redemption. He wrote also a 
Preface to Halyburton's learned Treatise on Deism. 
His distinguished knowledge, piety, and zeal, in short, 
greatly endeared him to the strictly evangelical portion 
of the clergy. Mr. Plenderleath, in his Diary, speaks 

* See Memoirs of the Public Life of the Rev. James Hogg, 
published from his MS. by the late Rev. Arch. Bruce, Whit- 
burn. 

•f Christ. Instructor, vol. xxx. p. 540. 



126 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



with much respect of his attainments and ministrations ; 
and warmly expresses his obligations to the friendship 
and spiritual conference, both of Mr. and Mrs. Hogg. 
Mr. Boston, in the year 1727, wrote an interesting letter 
to him, tenderly administering consolation under some 
internal conflicts with which he was then exercised.* 
Ralph Erskine, too, highly valued him as a kind neigh- 
bour, an attentive correspondent, and a judicious friend. 
In the following lines, which ajDpear at the close of his 
Elegiac Poem on Mr. Cuthbert, referred to above, he 
strongly expresses his veneration for the memory of Mr. 
Hogg, as well as Mr. Boston : — 

We see him fall, and, to augment the moan, 
The great, the grave, judicious Boston gone ; 
"Who once, like Athanasius bold, stood firm alone, 
Whose golden pen to future times "will bear 
His fame, till in the clouds his Lord appear. 
With him, blest Hogg, the venerable sage, 
The humble witness 'gainst the haughty age, 
Was swept, with other Worthies, off th' unworthy stage. 

The Rev. Patrick Plenderleath falls next to be 
mentioned among the valued friends of Mr. Erskine. 
He was the second son of David Plenderleath, Esq. of 
Blyth, and afterwards of Kailzie, writer in Edinburgh. 
He was born June 14, 1679, licensed by the Presbytery 
of Edinburgh in 1700, and ordained at Saline in De- 
cember 1701. He married Jean Rymer, daughter of 
Rev. James Rymer, first a Regent in the University of 
St. Andrews, and afterwards one of the ministers of that 
city. Eminent piety characterized Mr. Plenderleath 

* See this Letter in the Appendix to Boston's Memoirs, No. 
17. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



127 



from his early years. Two fragments of his Diary, still 
extant, which we have had the pleasure to peruse, give 
evidence of extraordinary seriousness, and of the humble, 
affectionate, and devoted spirit, with which he applied 
himself to the duties of a preacher and a pastor. Some 
of his expressions are as follows : — 

" Oh that I could first give my heart to the Lord, 
and then be an instrument in his hand, employed to win 
others to him." " I would desire with my soul to love 
that people, [the people of Saline,] and to have their 
souls dear and precious to me night and day ; and not 
to have theirs^ but them, upon my heart. Oh ! to be 
helped to seriousness and constancy, in opposition to 
natural lightness ; to public spirit and self-denial, in 
opposition to selfishness ; to faith, in opposition to un- 
belief and discouragement ; and to due concern, in oppo- 
sition to security and indifference." " Oh ! to be helped 
to walk humbly, tenderly, and thankfully with my God. 
Oh ! that I could reap the fruits of living near himself, 
as manifested in his precious word." " Oh ! for a dis- 
tinct, pure, plain, powerful, self-abasing, and heart- 
exercising sermon, out of heaven, for this people." 

The circumstances of Mr. Plenderleath's death were 
particularly affecting. In January 1715, when accom- 
panying his wife's sister, after her marriage, to EcJit, he 
was seized in an inn at Fordun, in Mearns, with a vio- 
lent fever, which proved fatal on the 6th of that month. 
Whilst his departure was most happy and triumphant, 
he left a widow, with a number of children, to lament 
his loss. Mrs. Plenderleath survived him till August 
13, 1730. David, his eldest son, having chosen his 
father's profession, was minister first at Ormiston, after- 
wards at Dalkeith, and thence, in 1764, translated to 



128 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



Edinburgh, where he died in 1779. deeply regretted by 
the pious. 

A private Christian, residing in Edinburgh, who was 
intimately acquainted with Mr. Plenderleath of Saline, 
says of him, in a letter to a friend, written after his 
decease, " I never knew a man, in whom more of his 
Lord's image shined."* The great esteem which Mr. 
Ebenezer Erskine had for him, and his deep emotion at 
his death, have been adverted to in a former work.f 
But none felt a warmer interest in this worthy minister, 
than Mr. Ralph Erskine. In one of his manuscripts, 
we have found a sermon, preached at Dunfermline on a 
day of public thanksgiving, soon after the arrival of 
George I. in Britain ; at the close of which, when 
noticing the premature dismission of the godly, as one 
of the remaining tokens and signatures of the divine 
wrath, he expresses his affection for this deceased brother, 
and details the edifying circumstances of Ins death in 
the following terms : — 

" The Lord has lately made some great gaps in this 
Presbytery, as well as in others, by taking away some 
holy souk out of it. It is true, the number of the glo- 
rified is increased; but, alas! it is our loss. The loss 
has had the more impression upon me, that God has so 
suddenly removed that holy, humble, laborious brother, 
of late, from our adjacent congregation, in the flower 
of his age. I believe nooe that knew him doubted but 
he was a holy man while he was living ; and that you 
may perceive that he died as he lived, I shall tell you 

* See a Collection of Religious Letters, by John Monro of 
Edinburgh, first published about 1720, and republished in 1807* 
Two of the Letters are addressed to Mr. Plenderleath. 

f Life of Eben. Erskine, Pp. 281—3. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



129 



two or three of his dying words, which I had from his 
mourning relict, who got them from ear and eye wit- 
nesses. I hope I shall do but a piece of justice to his 
memory, who loved so much, in his sermons, to tell 
the dying words of other holy men. When he offered 
to sing psalms in his sickness, they stopped him, lest he 
should do himself harm. 6 Well,' says he, 4 I am going 
away to that place, where there will be no interruption 
to my singing/ When a minister had prayed with him, 
and asked if he heard ; 6 Yes,' said he, 6 I heard, and I 
am assured that your prayer is accepted in my behalf/ 
And when another minister was praying, and at last 
speaking of victory ; 6 Stop there,' said he ; and when 
the minister had stopped, then he cried out, 6 Victory ! 
victory ! victory for evermore ! I see a guard of angels 
ready to carry my soul to glory.' Mr. Erskine having 
remarked a little after, that 4 prayer and praise go well 
together, and if there were more prayer, there would be 
more ground of praise ;' he adds, 6 which again puts me 
in mind of that now glorified brother, whom I spoke of. 
He had a custom of frequently going alone to pray in 
his church, which many of you know is very near to his 
dwelling-house ; and the last time he was there before 
he went north, he was overheard, as he was coming 
away from prayer, saying that word three times over, 
6 Hallelujah ! Hallelujah ! Hallelujah !' There had been 
some sweet work there, Sirs, to prepare him for death ; 
and I'll assure you, that frequent and fervent prayers 
will fill your mouths with hallelujahs, and make you 
glad indeed." 

The same affectionate esteem which is expressed in 
this extract is discovered also in a " Funeral Poem," 
written in honour of Mr. Plenderleath, " at the desire 



130 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



of some of his friends."* From this elegy, which con- 
sists of a hundred and eighty-six lines, we select the 
few following : — 

" His walk, his worship, was of Divine stamp ; 
His doctrine, practice, all a burning lamp ; 
His life all light and heat, fed from above ; 
His lips all fervour, and his heart all love ; 
His time all holy days ; for of the seven, 
Each day was Sabbath, and each Sabbath heaven. 

So vast the treasure in this earthen cup, 
Zeal for his Master's house did eat him up. 

This ministerial grace to him was given, 
To leave in many hearts, a seal of heaven." 

It is in a still more cursory manner that we must men- 
tion some other excellent co-presbyters of Mr. Erskine. 
Let it suffice barely to name Mr. Gibb of Cleish, whose 
primitive piety has already been adverted to ;f with Mr. 
Charters of Inverkeithing, and Mr. Allan Logan, 
first of Torrieburn and afterwards of Culross, both of 
whom were esteemed "able, holy, and zealous ministers" J 
The same character seems due to Mr. Alexander 
Steedman of Beath, who baptized the first Mrs. Ralph 
Erskine, and also celebrated her marriage. Mr. Plen- 
derleath, in his Diary, alluding to this pious minister 
having spent a night along with Mr. Mair of Culross at 
Mr. Hogg's of Carnock, observes that " their conversa- 
tion was useful and edifying," and that Mr. Steedman 

* Works of R. Erskine, vol. ii. Pp. 782—3. 
•f Life of Ehenezer Erskine, Pp. 208 — 9. 
+ Brown's Gospel Truth, p. 139. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



131 



" spoke to good purpose at the family exercise, from 
Psalm xxii." We have found Mr. Steedman's name in a 
list of ministers present at a conjunct meeting of the 
Dunfermline and Kirkaldy Presbyteries, April 6, 1692; 
and have been told that he was succeeded by a son, who 
lived beyond the middle of last century, and whose im- 
mediate successor was the late Mr. James Reid, who 
died on March 14, 1798. 

Mr. Erskine had also for his co-presbyter, for a short 
time, Mr. Charles Muir, who was translated to Stirling, 
and died there a few years before the Secession was 
completely stated.* This good man was licensed by 
Mr. Erskine, as moderator of the Presbytery of Dun- 
fermline, June 24, 1713, and ordained at Culross, May 
10, 1715. His translation was acquiesced in by that 
Presbytery, February 19, 1718.f Mr Muir was de- 
cidedly attached to the doctrine of grace, and strongly 
disapproved of the act of Assembly, 1720, respecting 
the Marrow of Modern Divinity. He thought proper, 
however, not to subscribe the Representation against 
that Act, and to content himself with expressing his 
opinion as a member of court. When the Commis- 
sion met on the 8th May, 1722, he was the only indi- 
vidual who voted against the overture on that subject, 
which the Assembly soon after adopted, and turned into 
an act.J 

The Rev. James Bathgate, another member of the 
Presbytery of Dunfermline, was a brother, who stood 
high in Mr. Erskine's esteem. He received licence from 

* Life of Rev. Eben. Erskine, p. 337. 
•J- Rec. of Presby. of Dunfermline. 

$ Account of Controversy respecting the Marrow, in Ch. 
Instructor, vol. xxx. Pp. 695, 819. 

I 



132 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



that Presbytery October 19, 1715, was ordained at Or- 
well, March 6, 1717, and died there so early as the 30th 
May, 1724. His ministry seems to have been remark- 
ably blessed to his hearers. John Birrell, who departed 
this life at an advanced age in October 1771, left an 
account of his own religious experience, in which he 
states that, at a sacramental solemnity at Arngask, he 
had received much benefit from the last sermon at the 
tent on Sabbath, preached by Mr. Bathgate, " on that 
blessed word, Ps. cxvi. 1, 6 I love the Lord, because he 
hath heard my voice, and my supplication.' " One 
William Dickson also, another worthy old man of the 
parish of Portmoak, repeated on his death-bed " many 
passages of the word of life, that he lived on in his young 
days under the ministry of Mr. Bathgate, and called 
them my Michtams"* 

Mr. Bathgate's fervent piety, and zealous attachment 
to the doctrines of grace, very much endeared him to 
both the Erskines.f In one of Ralph's note-books we 
have found a pleasing account, in prose, of his " dying 
words," with an elegy on his death, containing refer- 
ences to those expressions, which were exceedingly tri- 
umphant.^: The following lines form a small part of 
the Elegy: — 

ci Marching unhurt through death's devouring jaws, 
With joyful notes he sung, O glorious cause ! 

* Pious Memorials of the Parish of Portmoak in MS., written 
by Mr. John Birrell, Kinnesswood, grandson of the above John 
Birrell. 

f Life of Eben. Erskine, Pp. 210, 211. 

+ The reader may see these dying words_, and most of the 
Elegy, in Gospel Truth, Pp. 168-170. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



I bless, I bless, and shall for evermore, 
The worthy name of Jesus Christ adore, 
For precious truths I have contended for. 
Dark clouds are gathering fast in Zion's skies, 
But her triumphant Head shall yet arise ; 
Pure truth shall flow amain, in spite of man ; 
Let envy stop the fountain, if it can. 
Smiling he spoke, 6 I stay no more below, 
But to my Father's house I joyful go. 
I leave my family, though void of pelf, 
On fulness and sufficiency itself.' " 

The Rev. Thomas Mair was Mr. Bathgate's suc- 
cessor in the parish of Orwell, and, of course, a co- 
presbyter of the subject of this narrative. In an account 
of this estimable minister, formerly given,* it was stated, 
that a particular intimacy had been maintained betwixt 
him and Mr. Ralph Erskine. A small addition must now 
be made to that sketch. At the moment of writing, we 
have had the satisfaction to learn, from an able and in- 
teresting work just published, f that on the 21st August, 
1736, Mr. Thomas Man' was chosen by the Consistory 
of the Scotish Church in Rotterdam to be one of their 
pastors ; and that, owing to the sinister influence of the 
dominant party in the Church of Scotland, successfally 
exerted against him, as it had previously been against 
the Rev. Henry Lindsay of Bothkennar, through the 
medium of the British envoy at the Hague, the burgo- 
masters set aside the election on the 24th November 
following. The Church of Rotterdam, in reply to their 

* Life of Eben. Erskine, Pp. 537-540. 

f The History of the Scottish Church, Rotterdam, with Notices 
of the British Churches in the Netherlands, by the Rev. WiL 
liam Steven of Rotterdam, Pp. 104^170, 



134 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



inquiries regarding Mr. Mair, received letters of recom- 
mendation much to his credit. Ebenezer Erskine lauds 
him as " a man of singular piety, of solidity of learning, 
judgment, and experience ; a pleasant edifying gift both 
of prayer and preaching, of a grave, tender, and circum- 
spect walk, zealous for his Master's glory and the edifi- 
cation of souls." TVo of his Majesty's chaplains also, 
the Rev. Neil Mac vicar of St. Cuthberts and William 
Gusthard of Edinburgh furnished explicit vindications of 
his character. Omitting the honourable testimony borne 
by the latter, let us hear Mr. Macvicar. " As to his 
ministerial qualifications," says he, " I judge, in my opi- 
nion, that he is an able New Testament minister ; — if a 
competent measure of learning, beautified and blessed 
with an eminent degree of shining piety can make him 
so — As to the charge of Antinomianism, he is as far 
removed from it as darkness from light." 

From manuscripts belonging to the Scottish Church, 
Rotterdam, it further appears that Mr. Mair " was born 
of pious parents within the bounds of the Presbytery of 
Dunfermline, about the year 1700 ; — that his co-presby- 
ters esteemed him so highly, that they would, if possible, 
keep him in Scotland ; and that his wife was such a 
valetudinarian as to render his voyage to Rotterdam a 
hazardous undertaking." 

Mr. Ralph Erskine, himself, it seems, was put on the 
leet for filling up a former vacancy at Rotterdam in 
January, 1714. " This list," says the author of the new 
publication referred to,* " contained the names of the 

* The History of the Scottish Church. Rotterdam, &c. 
p. 146, 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



135 



following eminent clergymen. — Messrs. Robert Baillie 
at Inverness, John Brown at Abercorn, and Ralph Er- 
skine at Dunfermline. Mr. Baillie was unanimously 
elected." We find, too, from a fragment of a short-hand 
draught, in our own possession, of a letter addressed by 
Mr. Erskine to a member of the church at Rotterdam 
in the vear 1736, that he was one of the ministers whose 
advice was solicited in reference to the supply of their 
vacancy at that period. He writes in the following 
terms : — 

" Sir, — Having seen your line to Mr. James Hogg, 
with reference to your concern about the right settle- 
ment of the Scottish congregation with you, and finding 
that among others whom you wished to interest them- 
selves in that affair, I was mentioned, and classed with 
them for whom you express such a high regard ; though 
yet, for my own part, I know too good reason to account 
myself unworthy of any such esteem. However, finding 
as I have said, and also that Mr. Hogg inclined much 
that I should write a private missive to you on that affair, 
though altogether a stranger to you, and to the state and 
circumstances of that congregation, except in so far as 
Mr. Hogg informs me, — I cannot but observe, that to 
me it appears promising-like that you and others should 
show such a zealous and hearty concern towards the 
glory of God and the good of souls, in the comfortable 
supplying of that vacancy with an able minister of the 
New Testament, not of the letter, but of the spirit. This 
bodes good towards you that are thus concerned, and 
says that either the Lord will grant you your desire with 
a blessing, or sanctify to you the trial of a disappoint* 
ment, which, no doubt, will be very heavy. 



136 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



" The brethren whom you mention in your line, to- 
gether with some others, having, at Mr. Hogg's desire, 
conversed seriously upon that affair, judged it a matter 
of very great importance that you should be well pro- 
vided ; but to find out a person in whom all the qualifi- 
cations necessary for that charge do concentre, and 
especially those great and leading ones mentioned by 
you, was somewhat straitening to them. Most of those 
they were intimate with, being either superannuated, or, 
however otherwise worth}' persons, yet destitute of some 
or other of the endowments we judged necessary for 
that post ; and others that had a good character, yet 
being not of our particular acquaintance, we could not 
recommend them from our personal knowledge. Though 
therefore Mr. Campbell of Barr, Mr. Smith of New- 
burgh, and Mr, Jlair of Orwell, were mentioned among 
us, yet we came to no fixed resolution of proposing them, 
or any others, to be added to the leet ; only allowed Mr. 
Hogg to mention these to you, in case you should be 
straitened for persons to put into the room of those in 
your former leet 

After these statements, relative to some of Mr. Er- 
skine's co-presbyters, the reader must expect greater 
brevity in any notices to be given of his esteemed as- 
sociates who belonged to other districts of the church. 
To advert at all hi this place to the character and history 
of such of them as espoused the cause of the Secession, 
would be quite superfluous. Nor is it very necessary 
in tins manner to honour the memory of those eminent 
men of God, who concurred with him in the famed re- 
presentation regarding the Marrow ; since more or less 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



ample accounts of each of the twelve representing 
brethren have been furnished by a late author.* Three 
of them, members of the Presbytery of Dunfermline, 
are included in the above details, namely, Messrs. Hogg, 
Wardlaw, and Bathgate. There are, however, other 
three of that bold and worthy fraternity, namely, Messrs. 
Bonar, Williamson, and Kid, respecting whom we must 
here communicate a few particulars, mostly such as are 
not recorded by the venerable writer referred to. 

The Rev. John Bonar, many years an endeared 
correspondent of Mr. Erskine's, was ordained at Tor- 
phichen, in the Presbytery of Linlithgow, in the year 
1693, where he exercised his pastoral functions for more 
than half a century, being spared till 1747. His minis- 
trations were eminently useful, and some of his sayings 
long remembered. Mrs. Balderston strongly expresses 
the comfort she reaped from his discourses. When he 
assisted in administering the Lord's Supper in the Tol- 
booth Church, Edinburgh, in March 1716; " On Mon- 
day," she states in her Diary, " Mr. Darling's text w r as 
Psalm Ixxxiv. 4. It was a very sweet sermon. Mr. 
Bonar's text was John x. 27, 28. But, Oh! what I 
found in that sermon. Indeed the Spirit of God breathed 
upon it. This was the little further, and I found him 
whom my soul loveth. Return unto thy rest, O my 
soul, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee. 
" He was characterized," says an author who has mi- 
nutely inquired into his history, " by earnestness and 
energy, combined with much Christian simplicity in his 
public appearances as a preacher ; by unremitting fidelity 
and zeal in his private labours ; by steady attachment 



* Gospel Truth, by the Rev. John Brown, Pp. 39—170. 



138 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



to the doctrine and discipline of the church of Scotland ; 
and by singular piety and child-like humility in his 
private walk as a man and a Christian."* A favourable 
specimen of his talent for tendering pious and seasonable 
counsel, may be seen in a small publication, which has 
lately issued from the press.f 

The Rev. John Williamson, Inveresk, son of Mr. 
David Williamson, St. Cuthberts, was a man of excel- 
lent character, and singular endowments. His ministry 
commenced at the beginning of the eighteenth century, 
and was finished about the year 1743. Beside several 
volumes of sermons on evangelical topics, he published 
able pamphlets on the Marrow Controversy. Mr. Boston 
describes him as a person " of a clear head and ready 
wit ;" and specifies Ins marked success in silencing " Mr. 
Allan Logan of Culross, in a point in debate.";); Mrs. 
Balderston speaks repeatedly of his edifying sermons. 
At one time she heard him preach in Edinburgh, from 
Song i. 5. " I am black but comely ;' ? and she adds, " It 
was a very great sermon, which I felt." 

The Rev. James Kid was settled at Queensferry 
early in the same century, and prosecuted his ministry 
there about forty years. Mr. Erskine seems to have 
maintained a peculiar intimacy with this excellent man. 

• See a Memoir of the Rev. Archibald Bonar, Minister of 
Cramond, by Dr. Robert Burns of Paisley, prefixed to " Ge- 
nuine Religion the best Friend of the people," 5th edit. Pp. 
3, 4. 

■J- The Duty and Advantage of Fellowship Meetings, in Two 
Letters from the late Rev. John Willi son of Dundee, and the 
late Rev. John Bonar of Torphichen. With a Preface by the 
Rev. W. EL Burns, Kilsyth. Glasgow, 1832. 

J Boston's Memoirs, p. 373. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKTNE. 



13,9 



He alludes, in his Diary, to his preaching for him a 
Sabbath in December 1733, when disabled by afflic- 
tion. Mr. Kid was fervent in prayer, clear and zealous 
in preaching the doctrine of grace, and highly esteemed 
by the pious. His manly appearances in support of the 
right of the Christian people to choose their own pastors, 
as well as in defence of evangelical tenets, rendered him 
exceedingly obnoxious to the ruling clergy of his age. 
He was the individual, we find, selected by the twelve 
brethren, to lay their representation before the Com- 
mittee of Assembly in the year 1721, — " being a man," 
says Mr. Boston, " of singular boldness."* And when 
the Assembly 1722 passed their explanatory act regard- 
ing the Marrow, and at the same time rebuked the re- 
presenting brethren, Mr. Kid threw down " a guinea, 
as instrument money, on the table," and gave in their 
protestation, which had been prepared by Mr. Boston, 
and was immediately published.-)- His unflinching in- 
trepidity is particularly illustrated in a " Letter to a 
minister of the Gospel concerningthe parish of Bath- 
gate," printed in 1720. This letter details the unhappy 
circumstances attending a violent intrusion in that 
parish, effected conformably to a decision of the Synod 
of Lothian and Tweeddale ; which, it is affirmed, was 
imposed on by falsehoods. " No minister of the Pres- 
bytery of Linlithgow had the courage to protest, and 
give any remarkable testimony against the settlement, 
save the worthy Mr. Kid ; for which and the baptizing 
of some of their children, [children of persons who re- 
fused to submit to the ministry of the intruded incum- 

* Boston's Memoirs, p. 371. 

+ Ibid. p. 379. R. Erskine's Faith no Fancy, Appendix, p. 28. 



! 



140 



LIFE AND DIARY OV 



bent,] he was not only maltreated in the Presbytery and 
behind backs, but actually libelled in the most base and 
malicious manner." 

We could mention several pious clergymen beyond 
the limits of the Presbytery of Dunfermline, who neither 
subscribed the representation respecting the Marrow 
nor joined the Secession, whom, however, Mr. Erskine 
ranked amongst his dear correspondents. To this 
number pertained the Rev. Messrs. Sethrum of Glads- 
muir, Stevenson of Glendovan, Alexander Ward- 
rope of Muckart, and afterwards Whitburn, Ferrier 
of Largo ; and in particular, Currie of Kinglassie, with 
whom he very frequently interchanged services, till the 
wide difference betwixt their sentiments and conduct 
with respect to the Secession, put a stop to this corres- 
pondence. 

Candour and justice demand the admission, that there 
was a considerable remnant of ministers of the Church 
of Scotland not less sincerely attached to the doctrine 
of grace than the twelve representing brethren, who 
did not co-operate with them in their decided measures. 
In this class, Messrs. Hamilton and Brisbane of Stirling, 
both of whom Mr. Erskine numbered among his inti- 
mate friends, held a distinguished place. 

The Rev. Alexander Hamilton's learning, piety, 
and warm attachment to evangelical doctrine, were uni- 
versally acknowledged. The Christian simplicity and 
meekness, united with fidelity, which he manifested in 
the year 1720, when he underwent an inquisitorial ex- 
amination by the Assembly's Committee for purity of 
doctrine, conduced greatly to his credit, and served to 
disarm his accusers. After they had sat for the space 
of eight days, and made him appear ten or eleven times 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



141 



before them, they expressed their satisfaction with his 
answers to their queries, " and agreed to make a favour- 
able report thereof, and of his conduct in that affair, to 
the Commission ; and resolved, on all occasions, that they 
will improve it with the greatest affection and brotherly 
tenderness towards him." In an account of their pro- 
ceedings, drawn up by himself, he says : " I confess, 
when they were putting some queries to me, which in- 
sinuated great suspicion of gross error, and others that 
I thought grated much upon special gospel truths, my 
heart grew so great that I could scarce utter a word 
without a flood of tears, for which I craved their pardon, 
and told them it was my infirmity, which I could not 
help ; and some of themselves were so affected that they 
teared also."* 

Mr. Erskine had great pleasure in corresponding with 
this worthy minister on sacramental occasions. On the 
first Sabbath after his decease, being February 5, 1738, 
at the close of a sermon from Col. i. 18, " And he is 
the head of his body, the church," preached to his own 
people at Dunfermline, he paid a tribute to his memory 
in the following passage, which we copy exactly from 
his notes :- — 

" May we not lament, and tremble at the thought of 
it, that there are so few living and lively members of 
Christ's body in the visible church, and that many that 
were living members and lively upon earth are taken 
away to heaven ! A great many that were eminent in 
the church are, within these few years, removed. The 
last star that has fallen out of the church's firmament 

• Account of Controversy respecting the Marrow of Modern 
Divinity in Ch. Instructor, vol. xxx. Pp. 693-4. 

G 



142 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



that I know of, is one that departed to glory the last 
Sabbath day,* who was wont sometimes to assist at 
solemn occasions here, and of whom, if I should give a 
short character, I judge it may be of use. I may say, 
he was indeed a burning and a shining light ; one who 
bore the lively image of his meek and lowly Master 
Jesus Christ* and whose daily practice corresponded 
with his divine doctrine, and whose doctrine was more 
pure and evangelical than this impure age could well 
bear or tolerate. Yet was he so well furnished with 
learning and ability to defend it from the holy divine 
oracles, that some who attacked him as erroneous, and 
were thought fit to be his judges, were obliged to be- 
come disciples at his feet and his happy proselytes, who 
never shined so much in the church till once they shared 
his light ; which, when once they did, they shone more 
brightly, clearly, and successfully than their neighbours 
and cotemporaries. In a word, he was one of the most 
eminent of his age, both for Gospel doctrine and a Gospel 
conversation, insomuch that his daily walk and talk were 
a continual confutation of the errors, wickedness, and 
corruption of the present age. And I may add, that his 
sentiments concerning the public [affairs of the church] 
were so much the same with those that are now associate 
together by themselves, that they had a remarkable 
share of his daily prayers under the name of the Reform- 
ing Society, as he was pleased to design them even in 
his solemn addresses to heaven. Let those who are 
lovers of his memory remember this among the rest, 
and how many documents can be produced under his 

* Here it is added in a parenthesis, u Mr. Alexander Hamil- 
ton in Stirling died Sabbath, 29th January, 1738." 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



143 



hand of his zeal this way. Some of us have had occa- 
sion to join with him, and adhere to him, in some of his 
judicial appearances against the defection and corrup- 
tion of the times. Now when the Lord is removing 
such bright luminaries, what darkness does this presage ! 
When God is taking his Noahs into the ark, what a 
deluge is threatened ! Meantime nothing can make up 
the loss of any such eminent member of Christ, but 
that which was promised to make up the want of Christ's 
own bodily presence, namely, the coming of the Spirit 
in his room, John xvi. 7. We should therefore pray 
that the Spirit of those Elijahs that are gone may re- 
main with the Elishas that are behind, and that Christ 
may yet have some living and lively members of his 
body in this land." 

His profound veneration for Mr. Hamilton appears 
also from a long Elegiac Poem to his memory.* From 
this poem, which, including seven verses in Latin, fills 
nearly three folio pages, we extract these few lines : — 

" His eyes diffused a venerable grace, 
And piety itself was in his face. 
Sweetness of temper softened all he spoke ; 
He bore his great commission in his look. 
He taught the Gospel rather than the law. 
He forced himself to drive, but loved to draw, 
With eloquence innate his soul was armed ; 
Learning and grace combining, jointly charmed. 

Warm from his work, he to his rest did move, 
And from his pulpit to his throne above. 

And now, since he is gone, be this our strife, 
Just so to live, and so to end our life.'" 

* Works of K. Erskine, vol. ii. Pp. 784-6, 



144 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



The Rev. James Brisbane, who finished his earthly 
career at Stirling about two years before Mr. Hamilton's 
translation from Airth to that town, distinguished him- 
self as well by zeal for evangelical truth, as by his able 
ministrations and exemplary practice. An excellent 
sermon he preached at Denny on the Monday after the 
Lord's Supper, August 11, 1718, was given to the 
world soon after its delivery. In an advertisement pre- 
fixed, it is stated, that it was " published without the 
worthy author's knowledge or consent, whose modesty 
might have stopped the publication." " This sermon," 
adds the editor, " was not only accompanied with much 
sweetness and satisfaction to many of the hearers, but 
also has been very savoury and refreshing to many who 
have read it." The discourse, which is founded on 
Rom. vi. 14, appears to us to manifest very consider- 
able talent, and an accurate acquaintance with the Gos- 
pel. The author clearly illustrates the connexion be- 
tween justification and sanctification, and makes close 
application of his doctrine both to the sinner and the 
saint. His views, in a word, are materially the same 
with those defended by the Rev. James Fraser of 
Alness in his celebrated Treatise on Sanctification ; in 
which several chapters of the Romans are critically ex- 
plained. Yet in the year 1720, he was summoned to 
appear before the Assembly's Committee for purity of 
doctrine, to be catechised with regard to this very ser- 
mon. From motives of policy? however, they exempted 
him from that ordeal of minute and vexatious scrutiny, 
to which Mr. Hamilton was subjected ; and this lenity, 
it is thought, induced him to decline subscribing the 
representation against the act 1720 condemning the 
Marrow. Yet at the meeting of Assembly 1722, he 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 145 

gave his cordial support to the twelve brethren. " 1 
remember," says Mr. Erskine, " of a worthy and great 
divine, Mr. James Brisbane, minister at Stirling, after 
the representation given in against the act of Assembly 
1 720, condemning the Marrow of Modern Divinity, by 
twelve ministers, of whom I was honoured of God to be 
one, and when the act 1722 on that point was passing, 
he openly asserted that he could evince there were not 
so many errors in that book as in their acts condemn- 
ing it."* Mr. Brisbane too, it appears, when that act 
1722 was put to the vote, ranked as one of five who 
voted in the negative, while five were silent, and a 
hundred and thirty-four voted, approve.f Mr. Erskine 
delighted to associate with this valuable minister during 
his life, and embalmed his memory after his decease. 
He made various affecting allusions to him in the pulpit, 
and in the second part of his Elegy on Mr. Hamilton, 
he mentions his obligations to that sound theologian, for 
clear views of the Gospel, in the following terms :— 

u Great Brisbane owned himself his happy proselyte ; 
His arguings drew him, like a mighty chain, 
Quite from the legal to the Gospel strain ; 
So bright that henceforth he appeared to all 
Most accurately evangelical. "J 

We shall conclude these notices of Mr. Erskine's 
correspondents, by naming other two venerable fathers, 
who commenced their career many years prior to him- 

* Faith no Fancy, ch. viii. p. 351. 
■f Ch. Instructor, vol. xxx. p. 825. 

£ The above particulars respecting Messrs. Hamilton and 
Brisbane are supplementary to what the reader may find in the 
Life of Eben. Erskine, Pp. 336-339. 



LIFE AXD DIARY OF 



self, and the remembrance of whose excellencies and 
services he felt anxious to cherish.* Conformably to 
his usual mode of commemorating departed worth, he 
composed elegies on them, which we have found written 
by himself in short-hand characters, in one of his note- 
books. Probably they were once published, but we 
have not seen them in print. 

The subject of the one is the celebrated Mr. James 
Webster of Edinburgh, whose discourses he often 
heard during the period of his own preparation for the 
ministry. It extends to a hundred and twenty lines, 
of winch we quote the few following : — 

u Has cruel Atropos, with fatal knife, 
Cut off the thread of such a blissful life ? 
Has death thus snatch'd (Oh ! most afflictive doom) 
The blessed "Webster from his Gospel-loom ? 

Where such a golden thread of grace he wrought, 
As captivated every hearer's thought ; 
Each thread was wrought so close, so superfine; 
His style was pure, his eloquence divine. 

This heavenly zealot for the Gospel-scheme 
Taught without fear, and argued without shame. 
His active zeal 'gainst error all did flash, 
And burnt up anti-evangelic trash. 

His prayers, short, substantial, unconnned, 
Touched every heart, and ravished every mind.'' 

The Rev. William Moxcrieff of Largo, is the other 
excellent father alluded to. A small part of the elegy. 



* Compare Life of Eben. Erskine. Pp. 208-210, 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



147 



which consists of nearly a hundred and eighty hues, is 
3.s follows : — 

- Eeliold ! he was an Israelite indeed, 

Who, without guile, the flock of Christ did feed; 

Tender of weaklings, faithful unto all, 

He spared the faults of neither great nor small. 

Of sin and vice he was a bold reprover, 

Of Zion's welfare still a zealous lover ; 

Ker peace was matter of his fervent prayer, 

His public labour, and his private care. 

This preacher showed himself what few can do. 
A Barnabas and Boanerges too, 
A son of thunder, with alarming noise, 
A son of comfort, with a charming voice. 

Hence many came from distant parts, and saw 
Sinai and Zion both, at Largo Law. 

Ke testified even to his latest years 
For Christian liberty in choosing overseers. 
He could not see the flock of Christ oppressed, 
And in their room nobility caressed. 

Gone, but it is to Christ his resting-place, 
To glorious friends and to the saint's embrace. 
Faith's prospect fetch, and view him happy there, 
With Webster, Culbert, Plexderleath, and 
Mair." 



148 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



CHAPTER IV. 

Mr. Erskine's conduct with regard to the public transactions of 
his time — His reasons for declining the Oath of Abjuration in 
all its forms — His Loyalty, as expressed at the Death of Queen 
Anne, and Accession of George I* — Opposition to the Pre- 
tenders interest, and appropriate instructions to his hearers du- 
ring the Rebellion 1715 — Early and persevering zeal for the 
Doctrines of Grace — Attention to Mr. Boston's Letter to Mr. 
Hogg, respecting the Act of Assembly condemning the Marroro 
of Modern Divinity — Various trials, efforts, and publications 
relative to the Marrow Controversy — Vindication of our Lord's 
Divinity against Arian Errors. 

Although the character of any individual may, in most 
instances, be known with the greatest certainty from the 
general tenor of his private deportment, and from his 
manner of conducting himself, while no extraordinary 
excitement occurs, his behaviour in reference to public 
transactions, and singular events, should not be over- 
looked, Transactions and events of this nature, it is 
obvious, often prove a satisfactory test both of talent 
and of prevailing disposition ; and serve to develop 
qualities, which might otherwise have been scarcely per- 
ceived, or altogether hid. 

We have seen the piety and conscientious fidelity, 
with which Mr. Erskine performed the various duties 
statedly incumbent on him as a Christian pastor. We 
have also seen the brotherly temper he discovered as a 
colleague, and the lively interest he felt in all those faith- 
ful clergymen with whom he cultivated habits of Chris- 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



149 



tian friendship and ministerial intercourse. We are now 
to contemplate his conduct relative to the more public 
affairs, and the more remarkable occurrences of his day. 

The first point, in the order of time, which in this 
view demands our attention, is that well-known cause 
of dispute and animosity in the Church of Scotland, the 
Oath of Abjuration. Even the Oath of Allegiance 
and the Assurance imposed on the Scotish clergy in 
the year 1693, were somewhat offensive to the scrupu- 
lous constitution and tender conscience of several pious 
individuals, whose loyalty was above suspicion.* But 
the Oath of Abjuration, which was rigidly imposed in 
1712, within less than twelve months after Mr. Erskine's 
ordination, was considered far more obnoxious. Mr. 
Ralph's sentiments on this head exactly coincided with 
those of his brother Ebenezer,f and, it may be added, of 
his friend Colonel Erskine.J Accordingly, in the fol- 
lowing verses, extracted from a poem that he wrote on 
the coronation of King George I., he strongly expresses 
his disapprobation of the oath, grief for its unhappy 
effects, and ardent wishes for its abolition. 

" Redeem us, Sire, from things our country loathes, 
Subverting patronages, ranting oaths. 
Such was the woeful dubious abjuration. 
Which gave the clergy ground of speculation. 

* Memoirs of Mr. Hogg's Public Life, sect. iv. 
f Life of Eben. Erskine, Pp. 220-224. 

% MoncreifFs Life of Dr. Erskine, p. 4. u He was dissatis- 
fied," says that biographer, speaking of Col. Erskine, " with the 
terms of the oath of abjuration ; and was so conscientious in ad- 
hering to his scruples on this subject, that, Whig as he certainly 
was, he steadily refused to take the oath as long as he lived." 



150 



LIFE AND DIAEY OF 



Though all could freely, without laws to urge. 

Abjure the popish James, and swear to George ; 

Yet while it sweil'd with circumstantial clauses, 

Old English acts' reduplicating ases, 

borne feared to leave their conscience in the lurch, 

And make the kirk to swear unto the church. 

The clergy that had more of second sight, 

Swore it, and said it never cross'd their light. 

The rest engaged they could, on solid ground, 

Both love their King, and keep their conscience sound : 

Witness Dunfermline's Presbyterial bound. 

Great nursing-father of our church and nation, 

Give an abortive birth to this temptation; 

'Tis such a fertile womb of altercation. 

Our church, upon the whole, do all agree ; 

But oaths add little co its harmony." 

In these lines the author, it will be observed, alludes 
to the particle as, which was introduced in the oath in 
a manner highly offensive to zealous Presbyterians. The 
clause was originally expressed in the following terms. 
" I do faithfully promise to support the limitation and 
succession to the crown, as the same is, and stands limited 
by an act entitled," &c. viz. an act of the English Par- 
liament, which provided, that the King must always be 
of the communion of the Church of England. In the 
year 1715, after the accession of George I., that clause 
was made to run thus ; " I do faithfully promise to sup- 
port the succession to the crown ; which succession, by 
an act entitled, &c. is and stands limited," &c. The 
following explanation, too, was then added : — " That by 
no words in the said oath, or oaths formerly imposed or 
contained, it is or was meant to oblige his Majesty's said 
subjects to any act or acts, in any way inconsistent with 
the establishment of the Church of Scotland, according 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



151 



to law. At last, however, several clergymen who had 
previously declined the oath, having in 1718 sent the 
Rev. William Gusthart of Edinburgh to London, to 
represent to his Majesty the loyalty and good affection 
of the non-jurors, and humbly to request some farther 
alteration in the terms of the oath ; a statute was passed 
in the year 17 19, by which no direct reference was 
made, in the form of the oath, to the act requiring the 
sovereign to be of the Episcopal communion ; but it was 
merely required to " defend the succession of the crown 
in the heirs of the body of the late Princess Sophia — 
being Protestants." At the same time, all ministers and 
preachers of Scotland who had hitherto scrupled, were 
expressly commanded to take the oath in its new shape 
against the 1st of June 1719; and no young man was 
henceforth to receive licence or ordination, without 
having sworn it. The objections of the great body of 
non-jurors were now removed ; but the Messrs. Erskine. 
in common with Mr. Boston and a few others, were 
still dissatisfied, and from conscientious motives con- 
tinued; at all hazards, to decline submitting to the in- 
junction of government. 

About this time, a paper, composed by Mr. Boston, 
entitled, " Reasons for refusing the Abjuration Oath, in 
its latest form, 1719," made its appearance in print. In 
one of Mr. Ralph Erskine's note-books, written in th< 
same year, we find a pretty long essay, in manuscript, 
bearing this title, — " An Apology for some Brethren, 
who could not find freedom in then 1 consciences to take 
the Abjuration Oath, as last imposed by the states of 
Parliament/' The spirit of Christian meekness and for- 
bearance, with which Mr. Erskine's tenderness of con- 
science, in respect to this point, was accompanied, is 



152 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



worthy of notice. Such is the temper expressed in a 
passage of one of his printed sermons, preached in the 
year 1719. which contains an allusion to the differences 
then prevailing. " The miseries of the Church," says 
he, " and the sins that bring them on, are heart-rending 
things to the people of God; and particularly, their 
hearts are rent for the rents of the Church ; For the 
divisions of Reuben there were great thoughts of heart. 
For my own part, I am but a person of little experience 
in the world, and therefore I desire to be modest at this 
juncture, about the present rent among us. It is plain 
enough that the anger of the Lord hath divided us, and 
rent us in twain, like the veil of the Temple, from the 
top to the bottom. God is angry, because we have 
sinned/'* 

A communication on this subject, " written in much 
haste," and sent to some friends for then " own private 
use," which we find recorded among his short-hand 
papers, breathes the same moderate and healing spirit, 
" I shall not trouble you much." says he in this confi- 
dential letter, " with my sentiments ; only in general, 
though I desire to condemn none, that, since the amend- 
ment of the oath, have gone into it ; but reckon it my 
duty to justify them from many groundless prejudices, 
that a great deal of ignorant persons entertained against 
them, and have done it already, as far as occasion served : 
Yet the reason why I have not had freedom myself to 
join with them in taking this oath, is, because the utmost 
light I have win to, is that I know not whether it would 
be my sin to take it, or my sin to refuse it. I was 
afraid of sinning on either hand, anch more light you 

* Works, vol. i. p. 16. fol. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



153 



know is necessary ; for thus, to me, it is a doubtful oath ; 
and if the least doubt remain, it is sin, and the least sin 
is enough to state suffering upon. But because, as you 
say, people should not suffer as fools, it were necessary 
to speak of the grounds of my doubt; and besides the 
particular objections or scruples inclosed, there are these 
doubts in the general that have presented themselves to 
me, concerning the oath. — 1. I doubt, if thereby I can 
truly serve the great ends that should be proposed in 
all such public management, especially by the ministers 
of the Gospel, namely, the glory of God, the good of 
his church, the edification of his people, and the ad- 
vancement of a work of reformation, so far decayed at 
this day. 2. I doubt, if it can be said here, I take an 
oath which is matter of my rejoicing before the Lord ; 
and that this is my rejoicing in this matter, the testimony 
of my conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, 
not with fleshly wisdom, have I done it, — with as little 
scruple as ever I went to my knees, or any other piece 
of worship. 3. I doubt if it can be said, that all Israel 
rejoiced because of the oath, since it is a matter of vexa- 
tion to the godly, instead of being the matter of conso- 
lation ; matter of trouble to them, and not of triumph. 
4. I doubt if it can be said, I mean by me, I have no 
bye end in taking this oath, more than my ill heart leads 
me to in other duties. That is to say, if I could gladly 
and heartily embrace it as my duty, although there were 
no penalty, no danger of suffering by refusing it, but 
that it were at my option to take or not ; and so, whether 
penalty or conscience drive me most to it ; for, if con- 
science cannot lead me to it without the other, it cannot 
be my duty. 5. I doubt, if it be the call of God at tins 
day, wherein the land groans under the sins, not only 



154 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



of perjury, but of multiplying oaths of this sort, and of 
unnecessarily imposing and taking of oaths ; and if this 
oath be necessary, as the end of all strife, or the deter- 
mination of a controversy, namely, concerning my loyalty 
to King George, and opposition to the Pretender, and 
the like ; which are matters that neither the court nor 
country have any doubt of. 6. I doubt if I be not 
hereby serving the politics of some, rather than serving 
God and the king in a due manner ; of some, I say, who 
might easily have prevailed with the government to free 
us of it altogether ; and who were the first movers, with 
respect to the late application for this draught ; and of 
whom one of the leaders, as I am informed, said to a 
friend of mine, that methods would be fallen upon to 
make us all go in to it ; which makes me doubt there is 
more in it of the humour of a party, than the voice of 
God. 7. I doubt if my taking it can serve the interest 
of the Gospel in this place, fearing it would rather help 
to mar the great design of my being called to this great 
congregation ; it being dangerous to have the affection, 
of even ignorant people, alienated from then minister, 
beside that of the godly. 8. I doubt, because I cannot 
find a satisfactory answer to all the inclosed scru- 
ples 

Mr. Erskine, in this communication, alludes to his 
well-known " loyalty to King George and opposition to 
the Pretender. 5 ' Nor was this a vain boast, or an empty 
pretence. His whole conduct discovered a fervent and 
resolute attachment to the Protestant succession in the 
House of Hanover. Shortly afrer the accession of 

* See these scruples in the Appendix, No. V. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



155 



George 1., lie composed and published the poem* no- 
ticed above, consisting of about a hundred and sixty 
lines, and entitled, " A Congratulatory Poem on King 
George's Coronation ; with Dunfermline's Address to 
his Majesty, to redress the grievances of Scotland." A 
small part of this production has already been quoted ; 
its conclusion is as follows : — 

" Great prince, in favour to your loving nation, 
Accept of this uncultivate oration. 
Parnassus' towering train will criticize 
What royal clemency may patronize. 

Now may the heavens adorn your majesty 
With glorious blessings of the first degree. 
May that celestial Power that never dies, 
Make you the darling of the destinies ; 
That Clothe? s sisters may spin out your thread, 
Till age shall crown your life, as gold your head ! 

And may your royal progeny outshine 
All earthly monarchs to the utmost line ; 
Fame sound their praise, and echo's nimble soul 
Reverberate the sound from pole to pole. 
May they succeed to your imperial robe, 
Till nature fail, unhinge the ponderous globe ; 
And then may they, with you, be crown'd on high, 
When time's ingulf'd into eternity !" 

The death of Queen Anne, the accession of King 
George I., and the Rebellion of 1715, were events to 
which the clergy of that age could hardly fail to advert 

* We have only seen the original short-hand draught of this 
poem in one of the author's note-books. But in the account of 
him prefixed to the 8vo. edition of his works, printed in 179-1, it 
is said to have been printed, vol. i. p. 15, note* 



156 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



in their discourses ; and from this minister's manuscripts 
we find that, on all these occasions, he gave pious and 
appropriate counsels to his people ; and expressed him- 
self in a manner worthy of a man decidedly attached 
to the principles of the glorious Revolution of 1688, 
and determined, in defiance of danger, to lend his active 
support to the cause of liberty and of the Protestant 
religion. In August 1714, immediately after the Queen's 
demise, he delivered a series of instructive sermons on 
Providence, from Ps. xcvii. 1, " The Lord reigneth, let 
the earth rejoice ? Part of the introduction to the first 
of them is as follows : — 

" As my text stands connected with the subject I 
pursued before, so it is not unsuitable to the present 
juncture and state of affairs. While we find, on the one 
hand, a late sovereign, of excellent memory, removed by 
death from the crown of our kingdom, here is the very 
tiling that may mitigate the severity of that dispensa- 
tion, that however earthly potentates must die, and re- 
sign their sceptre at the call of death, yet our Supreme 
Monarch keeps his throne for ever : 1 The Lord reign- 
eth, let the earth rejoice.' And while we find, on the 
other hand, that another sovereign, of illustrious l^me 
and renown, is proclaimed king over these dom ins, 
which may afford matter of joy to all the true friends of 
the Protestant interest; yet to qualify our joy, so as we 
may not exult in an arm of flesh, my text doth very 
natively temper the extravagance of such a frame, in 
regard that we see therein, that the ground of our re- 
joicing is not so much, that any earthly potentate what- 
ever doth sit at the helm of government, as that the 
Lord Jehovah himself doth sway the sceptre of absolute 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



157 



universal dominion and government ; and hence we say 
with the Psalmist, The Lord reigneth, let the earth 
rejoice.' " 

The second sermon on this text is concluded by a 
brief enumeration of the various steps of the divine pro- 
cedure towards the Church of Scotland, and ends thus : — 

" To name no more, another step of Providence is, 
that after the decease of our late sovereign, the Lord has 
stirred up the spirit of the great ones of the nation, and 
present administrators, to proclaim that Protestant prince, 
on whom the succession was established by law, to be 
our king and sovereign, and allowed the proclamation 
to be peaceably performed throughout the kingdom, not- 
withstanding the opposite endeavours that Jacobites 
and Jesuits were employing themselves about, for the 
subversion of this establishment. Tins providence is 
the more remarkable, that the Lord hath brought it 
about at such a juncture, wherein enemies were at the 
height of their hopes, and upon the top of their designs ; 
all things seeming to go fair before the wind with them, 
insomuch that some malignant adversaries have been 
heard to say, 6 What will become of the Whigs now ? 
They have nothing but God to depend upon I 3 Indeed, 
if that be truly our motto, to depend on God, we see 
how soon he can turn the wind, and make the most 
frightful aspect of Providence wheel about with a favour- 
able countenance. But notwithstanding of any merciful 
turn of affairs, let us not live securely ; neither trusting 
in man's defence, nor making princes our confidence. 
God can soon turn about the wheel of Providence an- 
other way, and give us a prey to our enemies ; and our 
sins cry for vengeance. So that we have no cause to 
rejoice in any thing but God himself, who reigns, and is 



158 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



at present giving a check to our adversaries ; putting 
his hook in their nose, and his bridle in their jaws, and 
that in a very surprising and unexpected manner, to the 
dashing of their darling hopes upon the rocks of disap- 
pointment, that they may see and know that the world 
is not governed by human projects, but by Divine 
Providence. ' The Lord reigneth, let the earth re- 
joice/ " 

On a day of public thanksgiving, observed some time 
after the arrival of George I. in Britain, taking for his 
text Ps. cxxvi. 3, " The Lord hath done great things 
for us, whereof we are glad," he expatiated still more 
largely on the same topics. Let the following specimen 
suffice : — 

" The Lord hath done great things for us, in that 
hitherto he has frustrated the hopes of our enemies, who 
have been laying all oars in the water to waft over to 
our island a Popish Pretender, bred up in all the prin- 
ciples and maxims of Popish cruelty and idolatry. It is 
known how enemies have been employing their utmost 
endeavours of late, even in a parliamentary way, to 
subvert the security of the Protestant succession ; and 
the Lord hath laughed at their politics, and confounded 
their measures. Further, the Lord hath done great 
things for us, in that he has peaceably settled a Protes- 
tant successor, his royal Majesty King George, upon 
the throne of these realms ; that he has safely conducted 
him and his son the Prince of Wales, and others of his 
royal family, into these dominions, and installed his Ma- 
jesty in the possession of the Britannic throne. This is 
a great thing the Lord hath done for us ; and it appears 
the greater, while we consider, 1. What designs were 
on foot for opposing such a happy settlement, and en- 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



159 



slaving us to a Popish yoke. Yet the Lord in this mat- 
ter, brought enemies from the height of their hopes to 
the depth of confounding disappointment. 2. It is the 
more remarkable, that Providence carried on the matter 
in such a calm and easy manner, as no enemy had the 
courage or spirit to rise up in opposition to it, notwith- 
standing of their inward malice and dissatisfaction. 3. 
It is the more considerable, in that the royal person in 
whom God hath placed the sovereignty of these do- 
mains is blessed with a numerous family and promising 
offspring, in whom the succession to the crown is en- 
tailed. 4. The mercy is yet more observable, if we 
consider the solemn, free, and voluntary engagement, 
that our sovereign has taken upon himself, to study the 
good and welfare of all his subjects ; and particularly, to 
maintain and support the present establishment of the 
Church of Scotland. These things are grating to our 
enemies, and destructive of their hopes ; but to us, they 
are mercies of a considerable magnitude. They are the 
Lord's doing, and wondrous in our eyes ; and upon re- 
view of them, we may rejoice in God, and bless him, 
saying, < The Lord hath done great things for us, where- 
of we are glad/ " 

During the formidable rebellion, which broke out 
soon after the crown had been placed on the head of 
George I., this conscientious minister did not omit to 
exhort his people to make a religious improvement of 
its various occurrences ; whilst he was at pains to ani- 
mate the zeal of those who stood forward in defence of 
their civil and religious liberties. His unpublished dis- 
courses supply many instances of his fidelity and loy- 
alty on this occasion ; a few of which it seems proper 



160 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



to produce. At the beginning of a sermon, preached 
1715, from Psalm lxxvi. 10, his sentiments are thus ex- 
pressed : — 

" We live in a day, wherein the rage of the wicked 
and ungodly is boiling and running over in a furious 
manner, The fire of their wrath is kindled ; the flame 
of then fury is raised, and come to such a height, that 
it is ready to burn up and destroy the whole kingdom. 
But mav vou say, What will come of all this work, 
when men, in their wicked rage, are rebelling against a 
Protestant Government, striving to introduce a Popish 
Pretender ; breaking down the walls of our Established 
Church, and committing many horrible abuses in our 
land? Would you know, what will come of all this 
madness and rage ? My text gives an excellent account 
of it ; 6 Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee ; the 
remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain/ " 

In another discourse, he enumerates fully, and with 
much energy, a variety of considerations calculated to 
dispel those sinful and depressing fears, which are apt to 
prevail in times of danger. The words of Isaiah, chap, 
Ex. 19, " When the enemy shall come in like a flood, 
the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against 
hini," were the fouDclatioii of several addresses, full of 
appropriate instructions and counsels. In the month of 
January 1716, " when a garrison was placed," as he 
states, " in the town of Dunfermline/' he delivered several 
sermons on that pertinent caution, Deut. xxiii. 9, " When 
the host goeth forth against thine enemies, then keep 
thou from every wicked thing." From these words he 
shows, that times of war should be times of reformation ; 
and takes occasion also to point out the circumstances, 
in which it is lawful and warrantable to bear arms in 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



161 



civil warfare. On this part of his subject, he replies to 
the conscientious scruples that some entertained, and 
produces scriptural arguments to incite volunteers to 
come forward with alacrity and zeal in defence of a 
Protestant government. 

" I never knew a time," he declares, " wherein people 
had a more clear call to offer their help voluntarily, 
against Antichrist, according to their ability, than at 
this day, when Antichrist is shooting out his horns in 
Britain. It is not my single judgment only, nor is it 
the judgment of the Presbyterians in Scotland only, that 
the Pretender's government would open the doors of 
hell, to let in black and bloody Popery ; but it is the 
judgment of all the Protestant churches, abroad and at 
home, and of all who have any thing of the light of 
Reformation shining among them, who do not blind 
their own eyes. Witness the bishops of England, in 
and about London, who have made an open declaration 
before the world, that this perjured combination of rebels 
are agents for Antichrist, betraying our Protestant reli- 
gion, and involving our country into the palpable dark- 
ness of Romish blasphemy, blood, and tyranny; and 
thereupon solemnly declare their abhorrence and detesta- 
tion of this horrid, Popish, unnatural, and unchristian 
rebellion. So that it is not only we, but all that have 
any sense of the reformed religion, any knowledge of 
the blasphemies of Popery, that abhor and detest the 
present insurrection." 

On January 31, 1716, " about the time of Argyle's 
marching to Perth, to dispossess the rebels of it," ac- 
cording to a memorandum in the manuscript, a solemn 
fast was held; on which Mr. Erskine preached from 
Lament, iii. 37 — 40, and earnestly exhorted his people 



162 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



to humble themselves before God, on account of their 
sins and provocations ; and to implore his pardoning 
mercy, and the renewed manifestations of his favour to 
the land. A short address, delivered at the commence- 
ment of the public services of that day, contains the 
following expressions. Adverting to the probable con- 
sequences of the success of the Rebellion, he says : — 
- As some of this Popish and Jacobite party have threa- 
tened, so we have no reason to doubt, but, if they pre- 
vail, their little fingers will be heavier than their father s 
loins. Therefore we have all reason to pray and cry 
to God this day, for success to the Protestant forces 
against that Popish, and desperately inclined party. It 
is reasonable and seasonable, that, when the forces are 
lighting for us, we should be praying for them, and 
fasting too." 

On this topic, let only one thing more be stated. 
After the suppression of the Rebellion, and the happy 
restoration of internal tranquillity, this active watchman 
warned his hearers against a dangerous security, and di- 
rected then attention to the Prophet's awful declaration, 
" There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked." 

Whilst he thus acted the part of a stanch abettor of 
civil liberty, and a loyal subject to the House of Han- 
over, he acquitted himself with equal fidelity as a decided 
friend to the peculiar doctrines of the Gospel, and to 
the ecclesiastical order established in the Church of 
Scotland. Actuated by genuine public spirit, he not 
only sustained his full proportion of labour in conduct- 
ing the affairs of his own session and parish, but paid 
great attention to the general interests of religion, and 
displayed an indefatigable activity with reference to the 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



163 



transactions of the superior courts. He seems, in par- 
| ticular, to have punctually attended the meetings of the 
i Presbytery to which he belonged, and to have taken his 
jproper share in its necessary business and customary 
jexercises. We find, accordingly, from one of his note- 
books, as well as from the records of Presbytery, that. 
Ion Monday, September 23, 1717, he presided at the 
] ordination of the Rev. William Henderson of Dalgety. 
1 On that occasion he delivered a discourse from 2 Cor. 
jiv. 5, " We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the 
jLord ; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake f 
jand addressed impressive exhortations to the minister 
jand people. In his Diary, too, he briefly notices his 
•attending the ordination of the Rev. Mr. Hunter at 
JSaline, on the 26th January, 1782. It being usual in 
jthose times, moreover, for each minister, by rotation, to 
'submit to the judgment of his brethren a critical exer- 
cise on some portion of Scripture, Mr. Erskine, at a 
meeting of Presbytery, held in January 1719, delivered 
fan elaborate discourse of this kind, from these words, 
lEphes. iv. 11, "And he gave some, apostles; and some, 
prophets ; and some, evangelists ; and some, pastors and 
teachers." 

Whatever services devolved on him as a member of 
church courts, his zeal to advance the cause of truth and 
holiness was accompanied with humble dependence on 
the God of Zion. When his co-presbyters, for instance, 
placed him in the moderator's chair, he embraced the 
first opportunity of retiring to implore the Divine assist- 
ance. w This day," he states on one occasion, " i was 
chosen Moderator of the Presbytery ; and after dinner, 
I left the Presbytery a little, and came to my room ; 
and there got liberty, with tears, to beg the Spirit of 



164 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



God to be with me. to assist and to strengthen me, that 
I might do nothing dishonouring to his name, and 
might be helped to my duty. This, with an eye to the 
promise of the Spirit, and to that word, ' Lo, I am 
with you/ I was helped sweetly to seek." 

Previously to the meetings of the Synod of Fife and 
of the General Assembly, he discovers the same im- 
pressions of his own insufficiency, the same humble re- 
liance on superior aid. Thus, referring to Sabbath, 
Sept. 24, 1732, he says : — " In the evening and at night, 
my prayer was to the Lord for promised mercy — for Ins 
pity and conduct at the Synod I was to go to at Kirkaldy 
this week; that he would help me to witness for him 
and his cause/' — To the same effect he wrote subse- 
quently as follows : — 

« Tuesday, Feb. 13, 1733. Read Ezekiel, 1st, 2d, 
3d chapters ; James, 4th and 5th chapters ; and Psalm 
141st. What I read in Ezekiel was partly improved 
in prayer before God ; and that word in the Psalm, 
' But mine eyes are unto thee, O God the Lord ; in 
thee is my trust ; leave not my soul destitute ;' or leave 
not my soul bare or naked. And though I had not 
much sensible influence, yet I was made to trust upon 
the mercy and truth of God in his word ; and complain- 
ing of my fears of men's looks and words, which the 
prophet Ezekiel is warned against, especially when in 
judicatories, I sought the Lord would be the strength of 
my heart, and remember the i Lo, I am with you 
for I could promise nothing but what the Lord himself 
promises to me and for me." 

His ardent attachment to the pure gospel conspicu- 
ously appeared during the discussions on doctrinal 
questions, which, at that period, were keenly disputed 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



165 



in the church. At the very commencement of his mi- 
nistry, he took his place amongst those who opposed 
the Neo-nomian or Semi-arminian principles, to which 
not a few of the clergy were attached. He cordially 
concurred with Messrs. Hogg and Hamilton in resisting 
the specious doctrine borrowed from England, that the 
Gospel is a New Law, promising salvation on certain 
conditions. With regard to the Covenant of Grace, he 
held that the Divine Surety having completely fulfilled 
its proper condition by his obedience unto death, it is 
in its dispensation to mankind, entirely absolute. In 
the Preface to his Gospel Sonnets, accordingly, he ex- 
presses his sentiments on this point in the following 
terms.: — 

a I am convinced that many dark apprehensions con- 
cerning the gospel, flow from mistaking the nature of 
the Covenant of Grace and the proper parte therein ; 
and consequently the proper condition thereof. And 
though many excellent Divines, for whose character I 
have a very great reverence and regard, have repre- 
sented it as a mutual bargain between God and man. 
with stipulation and re-stipulation : yet without dispa- 
ragement to them, I owe more regard to our excellent 
standards, agreeable to the word of God, to which I 
own myself solemnly bound ; wherein it is held forth as 
a covenant that was made with Christ as the second 
Adam, and in Mm, with all the elect as his seed. And 
if God and Christ be the parties, we may thence consi- 
der wdiat are the proper terms, or what is the condition 
thereof, and by whom performed. I am persuaded 
that the general receding from this good old wav and 
manner of speaking, and the confounding of the parties 
contracting in the covenant of grace, namely, God and 

H 



166 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



Christ, and the parties consenting in a day of power and 
brought into the covenant, namely, elect believers ; to- 
gether with the confounding of the proper condition of 
the covenant with the proper qualities of the covenant- 
ed ; and even the covenant itself with the manner of its 
manifestation, and the method of its application ; and 
the not duly attending and adhering to our standards 
in this and the like matters, — is at the root of a great 
deal of mistaken views, even among those that would 
seem to be the most zealous espousers of our excellent 
Confession and Catechisms."* 

The controversy, however, respecting the book en- 
titled the Marrow of Modern Divinity, roused the sub- 
ject of this Memoir, in common with several other 
evangelical ministers of the Scotish Church, to still 
more strenuous exertions in favour of the truth. To in- 
troduce here any historical sketch of this famous con- 
test is altogether unnecessary But it would be an act 

* Works, Vol. ii. Pp. 578, 579. fol. Similar passages occur 
in his sermons, an instance of which may be seen in a discourse 
on Gal. iv. 28, quoted in Gospel Truth, Pp. 140, 141, 2d 
edition. 

+ Some notices of this controversy have been given in the 
Life of Ebenezer Erskine, Pp. 233 — 251, where reference is made 
for more ample information to the late Rev. John Brown's 
Gospel Truth ; of which a second and improved edition has 
been published. The curious reader will also consult, with 
much advantage, an " Account of the Controversy respecting the 
Marrow of Modern Divinity," in four parts, which appeared in 
the Christian Instructor for August, October, and December 
] 031, and February 1832. This account is exceedingly calm 
and dispassionate, and contains a variety of interesting particu- 
lars not generally known. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKTNE. 



167 



of injustice to the memory of Ralph Erskine, to pass 
over in silence the lively interest which, during the agi- 
tation of that controversy, he expressed in the doctrines 
of grace, and the zeal and courage he exemplified in 
their defence. 

His prompt acquiescence in the proposal to vindi- 
cate the precious truths injured by the condemnatory 
act of Assembly 1720, is attested by Mr. Boston, who 
seems to have received from him the first encouraging 
letter sent in reply to a communication on the subject 
addressed to Mr. Hogg of Carnock. " Now after some 
time," says that truly eminent and holy man, "at the close 
of the year 1720, I received from Mr. Ralph Erskinc- ; 
minister of Dunfermline, and son to the worthy Mr, 
Henry Erskine, above mentioned, an answer of the 
letter aforesaid, sent to Mr. Hogg ; and then a return 
from Mr. Hogg himself, bearing their readiness to con- 
cur in seeking redress of the injury done to truth by the 
act of Assembly foresaid."* 

We have found, in one of Mr. Erskine's note-books, 
an entire copy, save one or two sentences at the beginning 
and the close, of Mr. Boston's letter to Mr. Hogg, in 
which he informs him of a modest reference made by the 
Presbytery of Selkirk to the Synod of Merse and Teviot- 
dale ; of the unfavourable issue of the reference, and of 
the earnest wish entertained by his friends, Messrs. 
Wilson of Maxton and Davidson of Galashiels, with 
himself, that the lovers of truth would make a necessary 
and seasonable appearance in its behalf. This letter, 
which can scarcely fail to gratify the intelligent reader, 
is as follows ; 



* Boston's Memoirs, p. 388. 



168 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



- ; Letter. Mr, Boston to Mr. Hogg anent the Marrow of 
Modern Divinity, and the Assembly s Act concerning it. 

— — " The act about the Marrow occasioned great 
thoughts of heart among us. I have been acquainted 
with that book about eighteen or nineteen years, and 
many times have aclinired the gracious conduct of holy 
Providence which brought it to my hand, having occa- 
sionally lighted upon it in a house of the parish where I 
was first settled. As to any distinct uptakings of the 
gospel I have, such as they are. I owe them to that book ; 
and therefore, as the hearing of the late act anent it was 
wounding to me, so the seeing of it did sting me to the 
heart. Last week our Synod sat ; and these two 
brethren, namely, Mr. Wilson and Mr. Davidson, and 
I, agreed to write you on that head ; and they left it on 
me to do it, that you may be apprized of the state of 
matters here in that point. 

" At the last meeting of our Presbytery before the 
Synod, the printed letter anent the Marrow falling of 
course to be read and considered, some difficulties anent 
it were started. This was so managed, that it was none 
of us three that brought this matter into the field. 
After some reasoning on divers heads of the act, which 
was also produced, the whole brethren present finding 
themselves straitened, at least upon one point, namely, 
the condemning of that position. c as the law is a cove- 
nant of works, you are wholly and altogether set free 
from it,' unanimously resolved to make a modest refer- 
ence to the Synod, on some difficulties they had about 
the act, but making no condescendence in writ. 

" At the Synod, after some struggle, we were allowed 
to produce our difficulties, in face of the meeting. This 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



169 



was done at some length, as to each of the five heads of 
doctrine, namely, in so far as some passages of the book 
put under these heads, stand condemned ; and answers 
were made by the brethren in favour of the act. Some- 
what, though little, was also said, on the paradoxes and 
expressions of the Marrow. And having the opportu- 
nity, it was also represented, that two passages in the 
< act for preaching catechetical doctrine' were stumbling, 
namely, the necessity of holiness in order to the obtain- 
ing of eternal happiness, and justification through our 
blessed Surety, the Lord Jesus Christ ; — the former 
being considered and compared with the condemning 
of that passage under the third head of doctrine, ; If 
the law say, good works must be done if thou wilt ob- 
tain salvation;' — and the latter is too vide: and neither 
of them the language of our Confession of Faith or 
Catechisms, so far as we remember." 

" You need not question but we received hard words 
and names, in the management of this matter ; though 
it must be owned, it was but from very few. It was 
begged of the Synod, they would contribute their en- 
deavours to get this matter redressed at the next General 
Assembly ; but we were put off with an advice to lav 
our ck'fficulties before the Committee for purity of doc- 
trine, winch we looked upon as little better than to 
lock them up in our own breast; and could not obtain a 
delay of the affair till the next Synod, that it might then 
come in again. 

" Dear Sir, this matter is much at heart with us : 
and though we charitably think ourselves obliged to 
judge, that the General Assembly are not of those prin- 
ciples which the act seems to us to import, yet we are 
persuaded that truth is wronged, and the purity of the 



170 



LIFE AND DIAKY OF 



doctrine of the gospel cast under a cloud 5 from which, 
nevertheless, we hope it will shine forth more bright 
than formerly. And we are convinced that, unless 
there be a redress, the interest of truth will sink very 
low in this generation, and lower in the rising one, un- 
less the Lord himself interpose with an almighty hand. 
We are afraid of the guilt of being accessory any way 
to the betraying of it ; and it would much refresh our 
heart, to hear that you and others capable, through 
grace, to serve the interest of the truths of the gospel at 
such a time, were bestirring yourselves to fall on some 
method for getting these matters rectified at the next As- 
sembly ; or if that cannot be obtained, for discharging of 
the consciences of those who are pressed in that matter. 

" As for us, we would desire to be helped, through 
grace, to concur with you according to the measure be- 
stowed on us. We are informed the committee have 
given ground to hope, that the next Assembly will rec- 
tify something amiss in that act. We shall be glad of 
the retrieval of any part of truth in hazard, but are 
indeed afraid it be much like to the explications and 
alterations made in the Oath, [the Oath of Abjuration.] 

" Meantime, while in this keen assault against a book, 
for which many bless the Lord, to reach a bloody blow, 
they have fallen into something that is so gross, that it 
is shocking even to some, not very apt to quarrel the 
courses taken in our dark and cloudy day, one cannot 
but observe the fulfilling of Scripture, Isaiah xxix. 13, 
14, 6 Therefore, the wisdom of their wise men shall 
perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall 
be hid."' 

We regret that Mr. Erskine's reply to this interesting 
letter has not been found, Mr. Boston, however, men- 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



171 



tions, as we have seen above, that it was favourable ; 
and his continued attention to the cause is manifest, 
from that worthy minister's subsequent statements, re - 
lative to the meetings of the twelve brethren, and to the 
presenting of their representation to the Assembly.* 

Without derogating from the honour due to his es- 
teemed coadjutors, it may perhaps be affirmed, that no 
one either embarked in this cause with greater alacrity, 
or supported it wich greater decision and activity than 
the subject of this memoir. He bore his full propor- 
tion both of the work done, and of the odium incurred. 
Along with Mr. Bathgate of Orwell, and his brother 
Ebenezer, he was formally arraigned before the Synod 
of Fife, for having violated the act of Assembly 1720, 
and strictly enjoined, on pain of heavy censure, to ob- 
serve it in future.f The Synod's severity to the repre- 
senters was further shown, by an act enjoining ail their 
members to subscribe the Confession anew, in a sense 
agreeable to the Assembly's deed 1720, condemning the 
Marrow. Mr. Erskine, while he professed his willing- 
ness to renew his subscription to the Confession, as re- 
ceived by the Church of Scotland 1647, positively re- 
fused to submit to this oppressive injunction. After 
the lapse of some years, he subscribed in the following 
terms : — 

" L Mr. Ralph Erskine, minister at Dunfermline, 
do subscribe the above written Confession of Faith, as 
the confession of my faith, according to the above- 
written formula, conform to the acts of the General 
Assembly, cdlenarly. Ralph Erskine." 

Dunfermline, March 20, 1729. 

* Memoirs, Pp. 369, 370. 
f See Appendix, No. VI. 



172 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



" Iii the same form/' says Mr. Erskine, " did Mr, 
James Hogg in Carnock, and Mr. Wardlaw, my col- 
league, sign the foresaid formula. The word allenarly 
imported our subscribing, not in conformity to an act 
of the Synod of Fife at that time, requiring a new sub- 
scription."* 

The vexatious treatment he, and others, experienced 
from the violent adversaries of the Marrow is feelingly 
related by him, in the following extract from a contro- 
versial work if — 

" The Synod of Fife, among whom were five of us 
that were the representing brethren, for several years 
after that act [the explanatory act of Assembly 1722 J 
was passed, formed questions at their privy censures, for 
imposing a compliance with and obedience to that act 
1722, upon the said brethren, and made an act for a new 
subscription of the Confession of Faith, in consequence 
of, and in an agreeableness to that act 1722, in order to 
bring all their members to an unanimous submission 
thereto : which we, who were representee, unanimously 
refused ; declaring at the same time our readiness to 
adhere to, and renew our subscription of, the Westmin- 
ster Confession and Catechisms, as they were received 
by the Church of Scotland, anno 1647 ; but by no 
means, as they were by the Synod's act interpreted in 
an agreeableness to these acts of Assembly 1720 and 
1722, in which, we still maintained, so many precious 
truths were condemned and injured. Thus, we also 
stood condemned by their acts, and had no communion 
with them in a way of submission thereto ; but remained, 

* Gospel Truth, P. 146. 

f Append, to Faith no Fancy, Pp. 31^ 32, 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



173 



while the affair was in hand, not so much members of 
the court, as pannels at the bar, obnoxious to what- 
ever censure they might have inflicted for our disobe- 
dience to then acts, and disregard to then inquests, both 
in presbyteries and synods. Of which acts and inquests 
with respect to us, and all that were suspected to be 
Marrow-men, as the}^ were reproachfully called, there 
are abundance of standing evidences yet in their records. 
And as our escaping the lash of their highest censure 
was more owing to prudential considerations among 
members, than to the tendency of their acts ; so the 
disposition of the judicatures appeared too evidently, 
whenever any student or candidate was supposed to be 
tinctured with the Marrow, that is, with a gospel-spirit. 
There was no quarter for such: queries upon queries 
were formed to discourage them, and stop their way, 
either of being entered upon trials, or ordained into 
churches ; while those that were of the most loose and 
corrupt principles were universally most favoured and 
furthered. These things are too notour to be denied. 
And these were some of the sad, and yet lasting effects 
of the foresaid acts of Assembly, and the sad occasion 
of planting many chinches with men that were little 
acquainted with the gospel, yea, enemies to the doctrine 
of grace. Many pious youths of sound gospel princi- 
ples, to whom now a door is opened in holy providence 
among us, [the Seceders,] had the door of entrance 
into the ministry quite barred against them; and we 
formerly fought many times, as in an agony, and fought 
in vain, to have it set open to them." 

On various occasions, it appears, Mr. Erskine dis- 
covered his cordial veneration for the pure gospel by 
active sympathy for his fellow-sufferers in its behalf- 



174 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



He tenderly sympathized, for example, with Gabriel 
Wilson of Maxton, when suffering under a tedious and 
harassing process commenced against him for several 
expressions in his " faithful and excellent sermon/' en- 
titled The Trust, preached at the opening of the 
Synod of Merse and Teviotdale, October 17, 1721, 
Ebenezer and Ralph Erskine, during that prosecution, 
travelled together, once at least, to Kelso, to give their 
countenance to that esteemed brother, when he appear- 
ed as a pannel at the bar of his Synod. The following 
repartee has been preserved by tradition. The younger 
of the two brothers, it is said, was jocosely, perhaps 
rudely, accosted by the Rev. Mr. Ramsay of Kelso, one 
of Mr. Wilson's keenest adversaries, in these words: 
" Ralph, they say you are a poet ; will you favour us 
with a specimen of your poetry ?" " Yes, Sir," he instantly 
replied; and, alluding to the Christian name of their 
obnoxious friend, presented the clergyman with this ap- 
propriate couplet : 

a We be two angels, who did ride and run, 
To see the angel Gabriel fight and win."* 

His persuasion of the truths injured b} 7 the act of 
Assembly 1720, was too firm to be unsettled, either by 
the assaults of enemies, or by the well-intended efforts 
of friends. A cordial friendship had previously subsist- 
ed betwixt him and the Rev. John Warden of Gar- 
gunnock, who was a nonjuror, and an evangelical preach- 
er. This respectable minister, however, did not ulti- 
mately manifest all that consistency in upholding the 
interests of truth, that might have been expected. Mr. 
Boston, accordingly, expresses regret at the manner in 
which he treated himself and his associates, when they 



THE REV. RALPH EftSKINE. 



175 



held a private meeting in Edinburgh, on "the first night 
of the Assembly.'' 1721, for the purpose of conference 
and prayer with regard to then 1 intended representa- 
tion. " There came in to us/' he says, " a goodly com- 
pany of brethren, with whose appearance I was much 
encouraged. But, behold ! they turned our meeting, 
designed for prayer, into a meeting for dispute and 
jangling, and breaking our measures ; in which the main 
agent was Mr. John Warden."* In a subsequent page, 
he characterizes this agent as " a man well seen in the 
doctrine of free grace, but of some vanity of temper "f 
So solicitous was Mr. Warden to exercise the office 
of a mediator betwixt the contending parties, that, at the 
very time he was co-operating with the commissioners 
in theu proceedings against the representee, he thought 
proper to solicit a correspondence with Mr. Ralph Er- 
skine with a view to a reconciliation. Their letters to 
each other, which were printed, and a copy of which we 
have seen in short-hand characters, whatever light they 
throw upon the question at issue, had not the effect, as 
might have been anticipated under the circumstances, of 
either producing greater unity of sentiment, or strengthen- 
ing the bonds of mutual affection. After .three letters 
had passed between them, the correspondence was dropt 
at the request of the party by whom it was opened. 
" In his last letter, Mr. Warden talks of ' the quirks 
and empty distinctions' of his correspondent, and he 
concludes thus : i I believe you will not, in haste, give 
yourself nor me the trouble of so long letters. I have 
wrote my thoughts, and I beg there mav be no dis- 



* Boston's Memoirs, p. 370. 
f Ibid. p. 3/2. 



176 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



putings; it breaks my heart/ To this Mr. Erskine 
answers : 4 As the former was far from the design of the 
last I sent you, and as I cannot accuse myself of having 
employed my pen about trifles, (and I wish you had let 
me understand wherein it appears to be as you allege,) 
so the latter seems to be as far from the design of the 
first you sent to me, wherein you expressed such an in- 
clination towards communicating by word or writ to one 
another. And as I was not the first that wrote and 
made the proposal of conferring in this way, so I am 
content I am not the first that hath insinuated an incli- 
nation to drop it, which, indeed, I would have done the 
more readily, if this way of speaking had not suggested, 
as if there were no more could be said, after this strong 
effort of yours. 5 Accordingly, he subjoins a long re- 
ply, which, however, concludes in the following friendly 
strain : 6 Meanwhile, as a brotherly line from you, pro- 
posing whatever you think proper, will always be ac- 
ceptable to me, so I hope nothing that has passed in our 
communication hitherto shall make me disown that debt 
which I am always obliged to pay (according to the 
apostolical precept, oiue no man any thing but to love 
one another), nor yet weaken just esteem and brotherly 
love, which I own to be a debt always owing to you in 
particular.' w * 

In this important cause, Mr. Erskine considered it his 
duty to employ his pen in a variety of forms. He 
judged it necessary to compose a number of small con- 
troversial tracts in defence of the views maintained by 

* Account of Controv. respecting the Marrow in Ch. Instruc- 
tor, vol. i. p. 73, et seq. New series, 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



177 



the representing brethren. We have before us a manu- 
script written by him, and probably published at the 
time, entitled, " Some Remarks upon an Essay concern- 
ing the tendency of the Marrow Scheme." It consists 
of thirteen closely written pages in short-hand cha- 
racters, and contains able and acute disquisitions re- 
_ specting the believer's entire deliverance from the law 
in the form of a covenant ; the design of fatherly chas- 
tisement, and the nature of the connexion between a 
holy life and everlasting happiness. Another tract is 
referred to in the following entry in his Diary, dated 
January 13, 1735: " After reading and praying, this 
day was much spent in writing upon Mr. M'Laurin's 
Essay against the Marrow." The Rev. John M'Laurin 
of Glasgow, a justly celebrated divine, wrote a pam- 
phlet, it appears, on " The Scripture Doctrine of Con- 
tinued Forgiveness :"* and possibly that was the publi- 
cation which, at least in some of its tenets, he disap- 
proved and -attempted to refute. In the appendix to 
Faith no Fancy, too, published in the year 1745, he 
replies to several passages in the writings of Messrs. 
Willison and Currie, and " clears some points of gospel 
doctrine injured by their defence of the act of Assem- 
bly 1722." He here exposes the mistake which good 
Mr. Willison had committed, in his " Fair and Impartial 
Testimony," in affirming that the seceding ministers 
had not openly complained of that act till more than 
twenty years after it was passed. It is shown, on the 
contrary, that it was no sooner passed than they solemn- 

* See Dr. Gillies 1 Account of the life and Character of Mr, 
M'Laurin, prefixed to his Sermons and Essays, p. vi. 



178 



LITE aNB DIARY OF 



ly protested against it, and that their subsequent pro- 
ceedings corresponded with then protest/* 

To illustrate and vindicate the true Scripture doc- 
trine of grace, and to furnish plain Christians with an 
antidote against legal errors, was one principal and 
avowed design even of his Gospel Sonnets. This was 
the object, in particular, of the Sixth Book, entitled the 
Believers Principles, which contains a variety of " spi- 
ritual songs," relating to the difference betwixt the as- 
surance of faith and the assurance of sense ; the difference 
and harmony between the law and the gospel, and the 
proper place and station of each ; the ground of a sin- 
ner's justification before God ; and the points on which 
justification and sanctification agree and differ. 

Above all, his Sermons, especially those of them that 
were studied and preached betwixt the years 1719 and 
1728, contain elaborate defences of evangelical doc- 
trine. Of this number are his discourses on " Christ 
the people's Covenant," " The Death of legal hope, the 
Life of gospel-holiness," Receiving Christ and Walking 
in Him," " The Pregnant Promise," and " the Law, 
the Strength of Sin."f His talent for discrimination 
and research appears to advantage, at least in some of 
his discussions on these topics. We find him often re- 
ferring expressly to the obnoxious Acts of Assembly 
1720 and 1722, confirming the truths opposed by 
forcible appeals to Scripture, as well as to the subordi- 
nate standards of the Chinch of Scotland, and to the 
most approved Divines of the Protestant Churches, as 

* App. to Faith no Fancy, Pp. 27 — 32. 

•f- These discourses are founded on the following texts : — 
Isaiah xlii. G. Gal. it Hi. CoL ii. 6. Gal iv. 23. 1 Cor. xv. 56. 



THE REV. RaLPII ER6KINE. 



179 



Dr. Owen, Witsius, and others ; and vindicating the 
salutary tendency of those principles from injurious as- 
persions. His compassionate zeal for the salvation of 
souls is at the same time manifest from the assiduity and 
earnestness with which, in skilful addresses to his hear- 
ers, both converted and unconverted, he makes a prac- 
tical application of his animating doctrines. He dilates 
on them, indeed, with an energy and pathos which could 
scarcely have been attained by one who had not felt 
their power, and tasted their sweetness. His own ex- 
perience of their life-giving efficacy is occasionally al- 
luded to, both in his Sonnets and Sermons. To this 
effect, for example, are the following hues : — 

" Sweet was the hour I freedom felt 
To call my Jesus mine, 
To see his smiling face, and melt 
In pleasures all divine."* 

In one of his sermons also he says, " I know not 
what experience you have, Sirs ; but some of us know 
that w T hen our souls are most comforted and enlarged 
with the faith of God's favour through. Christ, and with 
the hope of his goodness, then we have most heart to 
duties; and when, through unbelief, we have harsh 
thoughts of God as an angry judge, then we have no 
heart to duties and religions exercises. And I persuade 
myself this is the experience of the saints in all ages."f 

Every one that coolly reflects on the stern counte- 
nance with which the dominant clergy of that age be- 
held the friends of Marrow doctrine, the ecclesiastical 

* Gospel Sonnets, Part. vi. eh, v. sect. 2. 
f Work?, Vol. i. p. 147, fol. 



180 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



censures they were visited and threatened with, and the 
civil penalties to which, as non-jurors, they were at the 
same time obnoxious, will readily admit that Mr. Erskine 
discovered no small share of courage in preaching that 
doctrine so boldly and explicitly, and in publishing so 
many tracts and sermons in its behalf. His sensibility, 
it is manifest, was much alive to the grievous reproaches 
cast on the evangelical system, and its strenuous defen- 
ders. These calumnies, however, served only to sti- 
mulate his diligence in investigating, and to animate his 
resolution in maintaining the truth ; whilst they afforded 
him an opportunity for the exercise of Christian meek- 
ness and candour. In one of his sermons on Gen. xlix, 
10, preached in the year 1725, he expresses himself in 
these words : " It is our mercy that we have pure stan- 
dards; and if any latter acts of this church seem to 
clash therewith, we hope they have not the deliberate 
approbation even of those that framed them."* And in 
the Preface to an early edition of his Sonnets, he writes 
in the same candid strain, as follows : " Though some 
late writers, whether in print or manuscript, have stum- 
bled into certain unguarded expressions, that seem to be 
quite cross to our received standards, yet I charitably 
judge that their stated sentiments in calm blood, are not 
such as their new and harsh expressions, vented in the 
warmth of their paper war, seem to import. And, much 
more, I do entertain a charitable opinion concerning the , 
rest of our communion, that have not been engaged in 
the heat of these disputes, occasioned by some occur- I 
rences." 

Many instructive and interesting passages relative to 



* Works, Vol. i. P. 311. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



181 



the points contested in the Marrow controversy, might 
be quoted from his works. On the sinner's immediate 
access to the Saviour ; on the personal application in- 
volved in saving faith ; on the believer's entire exemp- 
tion from the law in its covenant form, with regard at 
once to its precept, promise, and penalty ; on the true 
nature and influence of evangelical repentance ; on the 
importance, the genuine principles and the distinguish- 
ing qualities of acceptable obedience ; — on these and 
other kindred topics, his remarks have been esteemed 
by competent judges equally striking and judicious. 
But a selection of those passages, accompanied by a dis- 
cussion of the subject, however useful or seasonable,* 
would require a volume. Suffice it, therefore, to refer 
the reader to the original Works, and to selections which 
other writers have made.f 

The charitable hopes regarding the clergy, expressed, 
as above, by the subject of this memoir, were, with re- 
spect to some of them, grievously disappointed, when 

* See Appendix, No. VII. 

+ Brown's Gospel Truth, Pp. 146— .155, 382—418. Mac- 
Millan's selection, entitled, " The Beauties of the Rev. Ralph 
Erskine." — If the reader imagine, that either in the present 
Memoir, or in the Life of Ebenezer Erskine, the author should 
have more amply stated his own views respecting the doctrine 
of grace, he takes the liberty to say, that he considered any such 
statement as superseded by the notes subjoined to his Translation 
of YTitsius on the Creed. On the gospel, as distinguished from 
the law, see Vol. i. Note 49 ; on the unconditional exhibition of 
Christ, and his blessings to tinners, Notes 16, 27, 42, 44, 45 ; on 
the appropriation included in faith, Notes 11, 19 ; on free, com- 
plete, and final justification by the imputed righteousness of 
Christ, Notes 30, 52, 62; Vol. ii. Notes 7, 17, 75, 76; on the 
salutary tendency of the doctrine of grace, Vol. i. Note 62. Vol. 
ii. Note 61, 89. 



182 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



errors still more pernicious than the Neonomian, or even 
grossly Arminian tenets, began to infest the church. 
The Rev, John Simson, Professor of Divinity in the 
University of Glasgow, who in the year 1717 had been 
declared guilty by the General Assembly of teaching 
doctrines tending to attribute too much to the power of 
human nature, was accused in 1726, first before the 
Presbytery of Glasgow, and then before the General 
Assembly, of denying the Supreme Deity and necessary 
existence of the Son of God. After long delays, the 
process was at last concluded by the Assembly 1729, 
when the charge was found clearly proved; but the 
only censure inflicted was suspension from teaching and 
preaching.* The appearance of this heresy is charac- 
terized by Mr. Willison as a very " terrible rebuke" to 
the Church of Scotland. He states that Mr. Simson 
having asserted that the doctrine that " Christ is the 
Supreme God" must be taken cum grano salts, (literally, 
with a grain of salt, i. e. with some limitation ;) he pro- 
fessed sorrow for having given offence by that and some 

other expressions . " But, notwithstanding of all 

these renunciations and declarations, which came so very 
late," adds the same writer, " many in the Assembly 
declared that he deserved deposition; because, at the 
beginning of the process, he refused to answer questions 
for clearing himself, and had neglected many opportu- 
nities for two years' time, of giving satisfaction to the 
judicatories as to the soundness of his faith concerning 
these important articles, when called upon to do it."t 

* See some notices respecting this process, and the revival of 
the Arian heresy in Britain, Life of Rev. Eben. Erskine, Pp» 
251—263, 

+ Fair and Impartial Testimony, p. CO. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



183 



Mr. Erskine, in common with other faithful ministers, 
felt exceedingly grieved at the detection of a departure 
from the first principles of the Christian system in a 
Professor, intrusted with the instruction of candidates 
for the sacred office ; at the countenance he met with 
during the prosecution ; and at the inadequacy of the 
censure finally administered. As a member of the 
church courts., he embraced proper opportunities of dis- 
playing a laudable zeal in reference to that dangerous 
heresy. His published works, too, abundantly evince 
that he was careful to give seasonable instruction and 
warning on this head, from the pulpit. The vast impor- 
tance of our Lord's divinity, and the guilt and danger of 
denying or relinquishing this doctrine, are often alluded 
to; particularly in sermons preached betwixt 1725 and 
1729 ; as the following specimen will serve to show : — 

" Whatever doctrine tends to the disparagement of 
Christ, or to the robbing him of any part of the glory of 
salvation- work, is to be rejected as erroneous ; for to 
him alone must the gathering of the people be ; and to 
him only shall the glory of our whole salvation from 
first to last belong. Christ is much robbed of his glory 
in Britain at this day ; damnable Arian doctrine is 
spreading, whereby Christ is robbed of the glory of his 
Supreme Deity, — denying his being the eternal Son of 
God, co-equal and co -essential with the Father. The 
devil himself was more orthodox than our Arian doctors, 
when he owned, Matt. viii. 29, that Christ was the Son 
of God ; 6 What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son 
of God ? The devil spake more honourably of him than 
they do, when he said, Mark i. 4, £ I know thee who 
thou art, the holy one of God.' My text leads me to 
what I am saying ; for if Christ were not the Supreme 



184 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



God, equal with the Father, the gathering of the people 
to him, to believe in him, to worship and adore him, 
would be unlawful — it would be idolatry. For as the 
Lord our God is one Lord, so we must worship the 
Lord our God, and him only must we serve ; and it is 
idolatry to worship any other."* 

" The spreading of Arianism now in Britain and Ire- 
land, is like a pulling up reformation by the roots, and a 
saying, ' We will not only pull off the jewels of the Me- 
diator s crown, but tve will take the crown itself, and 
cast it into the mire. 9 If this error be subtilely main- 
tained among us, pray that God may discover and de- 
stroy it, otherwise it will destroy the very founda- 
tion of our holy religion. That pernicious error strikes 
directly against the doctrine of our Lord Jesus here ; 
for if there be not an essential oneness between him and 
his Father, then it is not true that he that hath seen 
Christ, hath seen the Father. If he be inferior to the 
Father in point of essence, self-existence, independency, 
or any other essential perfection, then we cannot see 
all the Father's glory in him. But let Christ, who is 
truth itself, be true, and every man a liar."f 

" Here is his human nature ; but, Oh ! she [the 
woman of Samaria] saw his divinity through the vail of 
his humanity. 6 He told me all things that ever I did, 
and gave me thus an infallible proof of his being the su- 
preme God.' She was neither an Arian nor a Socinian, 
neither will any be so that gets such a discovery of 
Christ as she got. And surely the blasphemous Arians 
of our day bewray their ignorance and want of true 

* Works, Vol. i. p. 322, Dis. on Gen. xlix. 1Q ? 
•f- Ibid. p. 454. Dis. on John xiv, 6 f 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



185 



learning and spiritual knowledge, such as this poor 
woman had. O but a little glance of Christ's glory can 
make a poor illiterate woman wiser than the learned 
rabbies that were never taught of God, and yet think 
themselves the only wits in the world. Those to whom 
Christ discovers himself, as they will see, so they will 
commend him to others, as God in our nature, God 
manifested in the flesh. Who ever questioned but the 
Searcher of hearts, who knows all things, is the true 
and supreme God, that can give laws to bind the hearts 
and consciences of men, and then disclose their hearts 
to them, and tell them all those things wherein they 
have violated and broken that law in heart or way ? 
Yet Christ is here declared to be such a one ; He told 
me all things that ever ldid? % 

Frequent allusions to this precious doctrine, we may 
notice in conclusion, occur in the Gospel Sonnets, as in 
the following stanzas : 

My Lord appears : awake my soul, 
Admire his name the Wonderful, 
An infinite and finite mind. 
Eternity and time conjoined.-f 

All heaven's astonish'd at his form, 
The mighty God become a worm. 
Down Arian pride to him shall bow ; 
He's Jesus and Jehovah too.J 



* Works, P. 578-9. Dis. on John iv. 29. 
^ Part III. sect. 11. 
% Part VI. ch. i. sect. 2. 



186 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



CHAPTER V. 

Brief notice of Mr. Er shine's domestic condition — Particulars of 
his conduct regarding the Secession - — Disapprobation of a vio- 
lent settlement at Kinross — Letter to a Glasgow merchant on 
that topic — Various expressions of sympathy with the Four 
Brethren — Adopts their testimony before the Commissicn in 
August 1730 — Formally accedes to the Associate Presbytery, 
February 1737 — His candour and moderation — Subsequent 
treatment by the General Assembly — Countenance and encou- 
ragement from his Session and People — Difference betwixt him 
and Mr. Wardlaw with respect to the Secession — His frequent 
prayers, disinterestedness, and confidence in God. 

Mr. Erskine's situation in domestic life has been 
sometimes referred to in the foregoing pages ; and as 
still more numerous allusions to it will be found in the 
extracts from his Diary to be shortly produced, it seems 
necessary now to introduce a few particulars relating to 
his circumstances as the hea.d of a family. 

On the 15th of July 1714, nearly three years after 
his ordination, he married Margaret, daughter of John 
Dewar, Esquire of Lassoddie, an estate situated in the 
adjacent parish of Beath. Her mother's name was 
Elizabeth Ayton. From the Christian graces she dis- 
played, as well as the sweetness of her natural temper, 
she proved an eminent blessing to her husband. After 
she had lived with him sixteen years, it pleased God to 
remove her by a sudden illness, in the thirty-third year 
of her age, on Sabbath, the 22d November, O. S. 1730. 
She had ten children, of whom five survived her, namely, 
Margaret, the eldest, and four sons, Henry, John, 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. . \gj 

Ebenezer, and James. For some time after this afflict- 
ing bereavement, Anne Erskine, second daughter of his 
brother Ebenezer, appears to have resided with Ralph, 
and taken care of his children. A second partner, how- 
ever, was provided for him in Margaret Simson, a 
pious and respectable female, daughter of Daniel Simson, 
Esqmre, Writer to the Signet, Edinburgh. This union, 
which took place on the 24th of February 1782, was 
also felicitous, and supplied new cause of unfeigned 
gratitude to his heavenly Father. The second Mrs. 
Erskine treated the children of the former marriage with 
true maternal affection ; became herself the mother of 
four sons, only one of whom, however, reached maturity ; 
and survived her husband a few years* 

Deferring further accounts of the occurrences that 
befel him, and of the excellent spirit he discovered, in a 
domestic capacity, we return, in the mean time, to trace 
the subsequent steps of his progress in the more pro- 
minent career assigned to him, as an ambassador, and a 
witness, for the Saviour. 

Among the public transactions in which he took a 
part, the Secession holds, without doubt, a very con- 
spicuous and interesting place. We shall here suppose 
the reader to be somewhat acquainted with the general 
history of that event ;f and it may suffice to do little 
more than detail the proceedings of the subject of this 
memoir repecting it, chiefly as authenticated by his own 

* These particulars are taken partly from the Records of the 
parish of Dunfermline, and partly from Mr. Erskine's Diary. 

t See « Sketch of particulars regarding the rise of the Seces- 
sion." in the Life and Diary of Eben. Erskine, Ch. viii. or the 
works referred to in that publication, Pp. 360, 361. note. 



188 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



manuscripts. From these it will appear that zeal and 
moderation were happily blended in his character, and 
that his conduct in this weighty affair, as on all other 
occasions, was sanctified by devout acknowledgments of 
God. 

Although he remained in communion with the Esta- 
blished Church for several years after the measures 
adopted by the ruling clergy had compelled " the four 
brethren" to secede, his views were materially in unison 
with theirs, and he did not fail to afford active support 
to the cause in which they had embarked. How cor- 
dially he co-operated with them in maintaining those 
evangelical doctrines which were then impugned, is 
clear, from the tenor of the preceding chapter. That 
he no less heartily concurred with them in vindicating 
the right of Christians to choose their own pastors, in 
opposition to the oppressive courses pursued in that age, 
is equally evident. He decidedly disapproved, for ex- 
ample, of the obnoxious overture with respect to the])!a?it- 
ing of churches which the Assembly passed into an act, 
May 16, 1732. We have seen the bold and manly 
speech delivered by his brother Ebenezer on that oc- 
casion.* Ralph, as appears from a concise hint in his 
Diary, spoke at the same time to the same effect. No 
enlightened and impartial judge, indeed, can examine 
the spirit and tendency of that overture, without admit- 
ting that it richly deserved unqualified reprobation 
The learned and worthy Mr. Boston accordingly con- 
demns it in the strongest terms. In a letter addressed 
to the Presbytery of Selkirk, dated Etterick Manse, 
February 22, 1732, after stating that his "growing in- 

* Life of Rev. Eben. Erskine, Pp. 357 — 360. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



189 



disposition and frailty" would prevent him from attend- 
ing their meeting on the last Tuesday of that month, 
he makes several remarks on the overture as calculated 
to destroy the few remains of religious liberty in this 
point, and then adds : — 

" I cannot help thinking, that the method proposed 
in the foresaid overture for planting congregations has a 
native tendency to sap our constitution, break this church 
in pieces, fill her pulpits with a naughty ministry, to mar 
the success of the glorious Gospel, and ruin the interests 
of true religion among us. For which cause I declare 
myself altogether against passing of the said act or over- 
ture into a standing act, and durst not, in the Presbytery 
or Assembly, vote in favour of it for a thousand worlds. 
I desire and hope the reverend Presbytery will do me, 
then 1 afflicted brother, not having access to meet with 
them, the justice to record their receiving of this my 
letter, and its bearing my not consenting to, but being 
altogether against the passing of the said transmitted act 
or overture into a standing act."* 

The Presbytery of Selkirk agreed unanimously to 
oppose the passing of this overture. The Rev. Mr. 
Willison of Dundee, too, who was decidedly hostile to 
separation from the national church, does not hesitate 
utterly to condemn that act ; and its supporters having 
alleged that it was materially the same with the act 
1690, he shows, at great length, that it differed essen- 

* Quoted from a pamphlet, published 1734, and. now rarely to 
be met with, entitled, " The Mind of the Modest, Holy, and 
Learned Mr. Thomas Boston, late Minister of Etterick, concern- 
ing the Act of Assembly, 1/32," &c. 



190 v LIFE AND DIARY OF 

tially from that act, and was extremely injurious to the 
spiritual liberties, and the best interests of the people.* 
Mr. Ralph Erskine gave another proof of his zeal for 
religious freedom, by firmly refusing to acquiesce in the 
violent settlement of a minister in the parish of Kinross. 
According to a late writer, that settlement was " one of 
the most scandalous intrusions that ever was made on a 
Christian congregation."-)- Even Dr. Erskine's bio- 
grapher allows, that the Assembly " appointed the set- 
tlement of Kinross to be carried into execution, with cir- 
cumstances of peculiar severity.":): In the year 1729, 
Mr. Francis Craig, a young man of eminent piety, had 
received a very harmonious call to that parish, with the 
concurrence of the patron, Sir Thomas Bruce Hope. 
But owing to the odious interference and inquisitorial 
proceedings of some members of the Synod of Fife, who 
entertained a prejudice against this worthy candidate 
for his alleged partiality to the Marrow doctrines, the 
call was laid aside.§ Sir John Bruce, who succeeded 
bis brother, subsequently gave the presentation to Mr. 
Robert Stark, a very unpopular nominee, to whose mi- 
nistry the body of the people could not be induced to 
submit. The Synod of Fife, however, with the aid of 
the Assembly, resolved to settle him at all hazards, in 

* Fair and Impartial Testimony, Pp. 65-G8. 
•f.-Struthers' Hist, of Scotland, vol. i. book vii. p. 599. 
£ Life of Dr. Erskine, by Sir Henry Moncreiff Weilwood, 
Bart. p. 445. 

§ The cruel harshness with which Mr. Craig was treated, ap- 
pears from the circumstances detailed in the account of Marrow 
Controversy, Ch. Instructor, new series, vol. i. Pp. 88-92. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKIXE. 



191 



defiance alike of the parishioners of Kinross and the 
Presbytery of Dunfermline. 

The Presbytery having positively declined taking any 
steps towards Mr. Stark's ordination, the General As- 
sembly, in accordance with a strange practice frequently 
resorted to at that period, devolved this business on their 
commission. When the commission were about to com- 
mence their operations at Dunfermline, Mr. Erskine 
deemed it prudent to keep at a distance, and was de- 
signedly two days from home. His Diary, however, 
contains the following curious notice of the reception 
they met with : — 

" Dec. 1, 1731. A committee of the commission was 
sent to take Mr. Stark on trials, and on Wednesday 
they sought access to our kirk ; and though they got 
the key, yet it was barricaded within, and they could 
not have access. I was not ill pleased at this, though 
yet I knew nothing of the affair." 

A few more extracts, relative to this notorious case, 
will serve still further to discover his abhorrence of ec- 
clesiastical tyranny. 

" 3Iay 1732. The beginning of this month, being a 
member of the Assembly, I went to Edinburgh ; where, 
upon the affair of Kinross settlement, and upon the affair 
of the act anent planting vacant churches, I was helped, 
after some premeditation, to deliver myself before the 
General Assembly. The first speech was against the 
commission upon the affair of Kinross ; and the second 
was on Monday, May 15th, against the act empower- 
ing heritors to be electors of the minister, and excluding 
the people." 

" Nov. 7th, Tuesday. After I arose, having read 
some Scriptures, I was helped in prayer, and my soul 



192 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



was melted and poured out in the view of God as a pro- 
mising God. After I had acknowledged my corrup- 
tion and confusion ; I was made to grip to God's word 
of promise of the Spirit, and his promise, 6 Lo I am 
with you. in all my ministerial work. And I had in 
view attending the commission, and acknowledging my 
utter unfitness for doing any thing, prayed that he would 

pity and he present with me, This day I went to 

Edinburgh, and next day, being Wednesday* I attended 
the commission, and Thursday \ the affair of our Pres- 
bytery's refusing to obey the appointment of Assembly 
in receiving and enrolling Mr. Stark as minister of Kin- 
ross. I was alone, no minister of the Presbytery being 
there but myself ; and though Mr. Bain's appeal was 
from the Svnod, vet they meddled not so much with 
that, nor indeed at all, but with the Presbytery's con- 
duct, and ordered a letter to be written in very strong 
terms, importing high displeasure, and also menaces, in 
case we would not take their advice in obeying the 
Assembly." 

" Feb. 14, 1733. I was mostly employed in writing 
an answer to the letter of the commission, in behalf of 
the Presbytery's refusing to receive and enrol Mr. 

Stark/ 3 

" Monday f , March 12. I came to Edinburgh to at- 
tend the commission. Tuesday, I met with some friends 
beforehand. Wednesday forenoon, the commission sat 
down. Afternoon, they entered on our affair ; we 
having given in a representation from the Presbytery, 
wherein we declined them as judges, and adhered to the 
Synod's sentence, appointing a committee to deal with 
the parish of Kinross. The commission having interro- 
gated the Presbytery why they did nothing of that sort 



IRE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



193 



themselves, I answered that the Presbytery were aH 
along suspected as having a hand in the opposition 
made in that parish, and if we should essay that mean, 
and prove unsuccessful, it might have riveted that 
thought, but we were very willing to have joined with 
the committee of the Synod. After this we were put 
out, who were commissioners from the Presbytery, 
namely, Messrs. Gibb, Hunter, and I. And after rea- 
soning in the commission, a large committee were ap- 
pointed to converse with us, and bring in an overture 
to the commission next day. The subject of their com- 
muning with us, was our reasons for not regarding the 
authority of the General Assembly, appointing us to re- 
ceive and enrol Mr. Stark as a member of our Presby- 
tery, (where we gave such reasons as the meeting could 
not answer ;) and then they proposed if we would be 
passive and let them enrol him, since we could not be 
active. We showed that it behoved us to protest 
against such a deed ; and they were willing we should 
do so, only desired we might submit. The paper we 
jointly gave in to them, and the sentence of the com- 
mission, appointing our clerk to enrol Mr. Stark, are 
in the minutes of the Presbytery. I remember I was 
helped to speak on this occasion in the committee, and 
we were helped to stand our ground ; and I again and 
again told them, I could do nothing that would imj 
an owning him to be dejure minister of Kinross/' 

" Wednesday, March 28. The Presbytery sat, and 
after the sentence of the commission was read, appoint- 
ing our clerk to enrol Mr. Stark, Mr. Hogg protestec 
against the enrolment, and the rest of the Presbytery 
adhered to that protest, except Messrs. Stark and Steed- 
man " 



194 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



£S Thursday, May 3. After reading several scrip- 
tures. I again got some pleasant liberty to pray to a 
promising God, and to look to him for the Spirit ; my 
heart was much sweetened and enlarged, and my hope 
in God through Christ strengthened. After this I went 
to Edinburgh to the General Assembly, where I and 
my brethren had a great battle, with reference to our 
having refused to receive and enrol Mr. Stark, The 
history of what happened at this Assembly, see, in short, 
in a letter to a Glasgow merchant, written in that book, 
where the sermon on Rev. vii. 17, is written." 

The letter thus referred to, was intended to repel a 
charge of inconsistency and unsteadfastness preferred 
against himself and his co-presbyters on account of their 
procedure on that occasion. He shows, that though a 
majority of members of Presbytery present at their 
meeting in Edinburgh having voted for the enrolment 
of Mr. Stark, he was obliged to acknowledge him as a 
co-presbyter, yet he and several other members had 
protested against the enrolment, and were determined 
never to recognize him as minister of Kinross, so long 
as the people of that parish refused to receive him as 
their pastor. This exculpatory communication, how- 
ever, gives an instructive picture of the painful and em- 
barrassing chcumstances in which the faithful friends of 
truth and liberty are placed, when closely linked in ec- 
clesiastical connexion with men of an opposite character* 
The letter itself copied from the above note-book, runs 
as follows : — 

Letter directed to James J f Coll merchant in Glasgow, 
at his house, by-icest the Laigh Kirk. 

w Sir, — I am sorry you have been so much imposed 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



195 



upon by misrepresentations anent the affair of Kim 
and our conduct thereanent at the General Assembly 
For preventing, therefore, people's mistakes, I lay before 
you this plain true state and history of that affair. The 
ground of our refusing all along to receive and enrol 
Mr. Stark as a member of our Presbytery, was because 
we could not in our consciences own him to be minister 
of Kinross. Hence, it is plain, that the enrolling in the 
abstract was not the thing that straitened the conscience, 
but the owning Mm minister of Kinross. Now, if we 
have maintained this, viz., the disowning his being lawful 
minister of Kinross, notwithstanding of his being enroll- 
ed over our belly, then I think we have stood our ground, 
and may defy the malice that reproaches us. But that 
this question stands still entire with us, we have as so- 
lemnly asserted as either word or writ can do, before 
the General Assembly ; where, after we had given in 
our reasons against the enrolment, and were communed 
with, we were instructed to meet as a presbytery, and 
to receive and enrol Mr. Stark, and bring a report of 
every man's vote and behaviour ; which being done, the 
report came in as before ; not enrol carried. Where- 
upon we the recusants were all summoned next day 
before the Assembly to answer for our disobedience. 
After this it was proposed, that we should be summoned 
particularly, man by man. Which, while the Mod i 
tor was doing, and coming to the last man of us that 
had voted not enroll it was alleged his vote was ambi- 
guous in the grounds of it, and he being called to the 
bar to explain his vote, said he was for enrolling, and 
that the exception he made in Ms vote was only a pro- 
posal. Upon which it was found by the Assembly, that 
the plurality of the Presbytery were for enrolling ; and. 



196 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



therefore, we were commanded to meet again, and re- 
ceive his vote, and enrol. Accordingly, being met 
again, and the plurality voting enrol and giving him the 
right hand of fellowship, we that were against it caused 
mark in the records of Presbytery, (which was read in 
open assembly,) our declaration against the enrolment 
for all the reasons given in to the General Assembly, and 
that our owning him as a co-presbyter, (since now the 
enrolment was over-ruled and carried against us.) should 
not import an homologating or approving of his settle- 
ment as minister of Kinross. Whereupon we, the re- 
cusants, (being now the minority of the Presbytery,) 
were again sisted before the Assembly, and though we 
owned the necessary consequences of the enrolment, 
which we were obliged to do unless we were to turn 
independents, viz. that we were not to leave the Pres- 
bvterv. but to sit and vote there, and own his brother- 

if w * ' 

hood, or fraternal relation to the Presbytery, founded 
now upon their consent, which you see we protested 
against as before ; yet we have never owned the pastoral 
relation of Mr. Stark to the parish of Kinross, then con- 
sent being never yet obtained ; winch, together with the 
judgment of the Presbytery, is necessary, according to 
our covenanted reformation and constitution, to consti- 
tute that relation. This we asserted before the Assem- 
bly, and also our hands declared that the question anent 
the people and their enjoying church privileges was still 
entire. Yet we declared our willingness, since the matter 
was thus over-ruled, to contribute our endeavours so far 
to reconcile that people to Mr. Stark, as to see if they 
could yet be brought, if possible, to that consent, which 
should have taken place before the ordination, and winch 
hitherto was wanting, and which, while it is wanting. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 199 

we have no freedom to deny them church privileges. 
Upon this adherence to our main point- the sentence of 
the Assembly passed against us. Which sentence not 
being complete, but left to the Commission in August 
to execute more fully according to our behaviour, we 
did not see fit to protest against it, but only upon the 
back of its being intimated to us, signified our adherence 
to what we had said before, by telling the Moderator 
that we had already told our mind to the Assembly, and 
had no more to add. 

u This is a short account of the affair, as it stood be- 
fore the Assembly ; and I think none that were present 
will adventure to contradict me in these facts. 

" Two tilings remain to be cleared, for giving you 
full satisfaction. The one is anent the lawfulness of the 
Presbytery while the elders were not present, nor ad- 
vertised as to this [meeting.] It is fit you should know, 
what many are not aware of, that not only were we com- 
manded by the General Assembly to constitute, and 
judge anew in this affair ; but also at our last Presbytery 
at Dunfermline, we were authorized by the Presbytery 
to meet at Edinburgh on the same affair, so that all the 
elders might have been present, (as some of them readily 
would, if they had known what was to happen.) So it 
was a lawful meeting according to the rules of the 
church, although there had been but a quorum of the 
Presbytery present. Since the former Presbytery au- 
thorized all their members that should be at Edinburgh, 
to meet and constitute there, this made it a legal meet- 
ing, abstract from the command of the General As- 
sembly. 

" The other thing to be cleared is anent the alleged 
inconsistency between owning Mr. Stark now a member 



198 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



of presbytery, and yet disowning his being minister of 
Kinross. To this it is answered, that if this be incon- 
sistent, several judicatories of this church are very incon- 
sistent with themselves, for all the Professors of Divinity 
in Scotland, though they have no pastoral charge, and 
some Professors of history and languages, yet are re- 
ceived as members of the Presbytery they reside among ; 
and in several places, where a minister happens but to 
dwell within the bounds of a Presbytery, although he 
have no pastoral relation to any flock, yet he is chosen 
to be a member of Presbytery : No doubt but the plu- 
rality of a Society or Presbytery consenting may con- 
stitute a man's relation to it as a member thereof ; but 
it can never constitute his pastoral relation to a rlock 
not consenting thereunto. Therefore, though we were 
obliged to own the former, we denied the latter, yea, 
some of the brethren that were for enrolling, never yet 
owned Mr. Stark to be minister of that congregation ; 
and though we that were against enrolling, because we 
could not own him as minister of Kinross, do now own 
that he is a member of the Presbvterv contrarv to our 
wish, yet we can never own him to be a member of the 
Presbytery, as he is minister of Kinross, but merely as 
he is chosen by the plurality of the Presbytery to be a 
member thereof, as our foresaid recorded declaration 
makes evident. If we had either acquiesced in the enrol- 
ment without entering our protest or declaration against 
it, or upon the enrolment had owned that now he is 
minister of Kinross, men might have alleged that we 
had pretended conscience in this matter, but since, as I 
have told you, the case is quite otherwise, you may 
see how fearfully we are reproached and abused. We 
were all along of the mind, that if the plurality of the 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



199 



Presbytery should sway the enrolment against us, we 
could do no more than protest against it ; but while we 
were the plurality, to do the thing or see it done 
and yet not protest against it, would be indeed to have 
acted like men of no conscience. Yielding active obe- 
dience to either superior or inferior courts in this matter, 
might have straitened our conscience; but it is plain, 
from what I have told you, we have been active only 
in opposition to it ; and I hardly know how we could 
give farther testimony against it than we have done, 
We have yielded nothing but to own what is now matter 
of fact, that he is a brother as a member of the Presby- 
tery, and that we ought not to carry unbrotherly towards 
him, but the contrary ; since the Presbytery, whereof 
we are members, have received him, though against 
our will. 

" I see, indeed, we stand just now in a dangerous 
post, and yet in a middle place between the kirk and 
the people, so to speak ; the kirk, that would drive us 
to popery, making the judgment of ministers simply to 
constitute the relation between a pastor and people, 
and so lording it over their consciences, by obtruding 
ministers upon them without their consent ; and the 
people, many of whom would, at the roots, drive us to 
independency, as if we should do somewhat more than 
enter a protest or dissent when overcome and outvoted ; 
that is, they would have us leave the judicatory, or se- 
parate. Perhaps I mistake them. However, I doubt 
not but, upon due information, they will see it is our 
duty to shun all extremes and fight lawfully, as long 
we can with a safe conscience. I do not see we are so 
entangled as the representations you have got of this 
affair, make you suppose we are. The account I have 



200 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



given here, will obviate every thing you have told me 
is alleged against us. We cannot help if we are re- 
proached; better than we have been so. Meantime, 
when you are attacked, so as you cannot answer for us, 
you may reserve or refer answering till farther informa- 
tion." * 

Whilst the subject of this memoir was strenuously 
contending for scriptural purity as well in government 
as doctrine, what less could be expected from him, than 
unequivocal expressions of regard and sympathy for 
his dear brother Ebenezer and his three adherents of 
the Synod of Perth and Stirling, when suffering eccle- 
siastical severities incurred by their fidelity ? His cor- 
dial fellow-feeling was manifested at once by earnest 
prayers on their behalf, by friendly confidential com- 
munications, and by public tokens of esteem, that even- 

* Notwithstanding the specious apologies he pleads in this letter, 
Mr. Erskine appears to have afterwards candidly confessed him- 
self guilty of sinful pusillanimity in at all acquiescing in Mr. 
Stark's enrolment. Hence, " A Confession of the sins of the 
Ministry," made by the Associate Presbytery at Dunfermline, 
November 3, 17-13, contains the following acknowledgment. 
" And we desire to be humbled, that some of us were left to 
faint sinfully in the year 1733, when suffering ourselves to be 
so far blinded, by the seeming decision of a meeting of the Pres- 
bytery of Dunfermline at Edinburgh, for the enrolment of an 
intruder among them, as to drop our testimony against his being 
enrolled ; through our not adverting either to the unlawfulness 
of the constitution of that meeting of Presbytery, which all the 
members were not warned to attend, or the sinfulness of the 
decision, though the Presbytery had been lawfully constituted." 
Act of the Associate Presbvtery for renewing the Covenants, 
p. 43. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKIXE. 



201 



tually terminated in a complete accession to the Asso- 
ciate Presbytery. Those who consider the Secession 
as on the whole a real blessing to Scotland, will not 
read without pleasure, the ensuing extracts from the 
private records of this conscientious minister, illustra- 
tive of the piety, integrity, humility, and zeal, which 
guided his steps, in befriending this cause in its infancy. 

" Saturday, October 14, 1732 This night I got no- 
tice of my brother Ebenezer being arraigned and ac- 
cused before the Synod of Perth for his synodical ser- 
mon before them, and by three votes voted censurable, 
and he ordered to be rebuked and admonished — upon 
which seventeen ministers dissented, and he, with Mr. 
Fisher, appealed to the Assembly." 

"Monday, Oct 16, 1732. — After reading Is. lvii. 
and Ps. lvii. I got liberty to pray over some parts of 
the Scriptures I read, and then to express confidence in 
the mercy and truth of God with reference to his ac- 
complishing the promise of the~ Spirit; his presence 

in my work ; his countenance to my brother 

in his present circumstances, that integrity and up- 
rightness may preserve him — with sweetness of 

frame, and high expressions of humble confidence in the 
Lord." 

" Wednesday, May 2, 1733. — This morning about 
six o'clock, after reading, my heart went after God in 
prayer, and I was helped to pray with some faith and 
hope and pleasure ; and to glorify God as a God in 
Christ, that had glorified many of his perfections before 
my eyes, in his way of dealing with me. I was helped 
to look to him with faith and desire, through the glass 
of the promise of the Spirit also that the Lord 



202 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



would stand by my brother Ebenezer at the General 
Assembly." 

K August 7, 1733. — This evening I went to Edin- 
burgh/' — " Wednesday* Aug, 8. The commission sat, 
and took the affair of my brother Ebenezer, Messrs. 
Wilson, Moncrieff, and Fisher, under their consideration, 
and with great violence hastened to a sentence." — 
Thursday, Aug. 9. These four brethren were suspended 
by that violent court, after long and warm reasonings. 
The stream carried down all before it." 

Ralph Erskine was not a mere passive spectator of 
the conduct of the Assembly in May 1733, and of their 
commission in August following, relative to the suspend- 
ed brethren. A paper presented by him and Mr. 
Thomas Mair to the commission, at their subsequent 
meeting in November, contains the following allusion to 
the testimonies they had previously borne against the 
violent proceedings in this cause : — " Though we had 
no occasion regularly to sign the same papers with these 
brethren, [Mr. Ebenezer Erskine and his three adher- 
ents,] yet not only did some of us, as well as others 
present at the last General Assembly, openly and judi- 
cially adhere to the protestation and declaration given 
in by them, as containing a testimony against the act of 
Assembly 1732, anent planting' vacant churches, and as 
asserting our privilege and duty to testify publicly 
against the same, or like defections, on all proper occa- 
sions ; but also at the last commission, met in August, 
offered our verbal adherence, as several others did, unto 
the protestation these brethren entered against the sen- 
tence of the commission, suspending them from the ex- 
ercise of their ministry : whereby we intended to testify 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



203 



our concurrence with, and adherence unto the several 
representations given in by them to the commission un- 
der form of instrument.''* 

His brotherly behaviour towards these ill-treated 
ministers, accorded with his verbal adherence to their 
protests ; as appears from the successive entries of his 
Diary : — 

Thursday, Sep. 6, 1733. — 1 went to the ordination 
of Mr. Webster at Culross. I found he had refused to 
let my brother Ebenezer join in that work. I returned 
that night, my brother being at my house.'* — Sabbath. 
Sep. 9. This day my brother Ebenezer preached in 
Dunfermline for me and my colleague. We freely em- 
ployed him, though suspended by the commission." — 
i; Tuesday Sep. 11. I went with my brother towards 
Stirling, and was with him all night in Kennet Bruce's 
house." — " Wednesday^ Sep. 12, This evening we 
came to Stirling ; I was there all this week." — " Sab- 
bath, Sep. 16= I preached for Mr. Muir, and exercised 
in the kirk of Stirling on 2 Tim. i. 7. < God hath not 
given us the Spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, 
and of a sound mind.' " 

" Monday, Sep. 17.— My brother and I went towards 
Kinclaven to meet with his other suspended brethren. 
We were all met at Auchterarder." — Tuesday, Sep 18. 
We came to Kinclaven ; and afterwards came Mr. 
Moncrieu of Culfargy. Mr. Fisher and Mr. Wilson 
were detained at Dunkeld. where they were attending 
the Presbytery." — " Wednesday, Sep. 19. The four 
brethren, and I with them, spent the day in praying, 
and seeking counsel of the Lord, as to what they were 



Re-exhibition of the Testimony, Pp. 27, 28. 



204 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



next to do. This afternoon Mr. Gow* came, and he 
also joined in worship with us." — Thursday r , Sep. 20. 
Part of this day was also spent in prayer and conference. 
The brethren came to find that in their circumstances, 
it was fit they should think, in case of their deposition 
next commission, to be ready before it to constitute 
themselves into a Presbytery, and declare themselves 
not of the communion of this church, with certain re- 
serves." — " Friday, Sep. 21. I came with the rest of 

* This was, no doubt, the Rev. John Gow of Cargill, who held 
the same views with the four brethren, though he failed to sup- 
port them with equal resolution. He was one of the forty-two 
ministers that subscribed the representation and petition to the 
Assembly 1732, remonstrating against a variety of grievances ; 
and one of those members of the Synod of Perth and Stirling, 
who adhered to Mr. MoncriefTs dissent and protest against the 
deed by which Ebenezer Erskine was found censurable. Nor 
was Mr. Gow the only clergyman whose caution ultimately pre- 
vailed against his courage. We may here specify the Rev. Mr. 
Palmer of Forgandenny, as supplying another instance. An 
intimate friendship subsisted betwixt him and Mr. Wilson of 
Perth. Soon after the Secession, Mr. Palmer was seized with 
an illness that terminated in death. During the time of his af- 
fliction, he was anxious to enjoy much of Mr "Wilson's com- 
pany, who gratified him in this point, as far as he could. " Con- 
versing one day very closely, Mr. Wilson hinted to him, brother, 
I think you should have stood forth with me and some others, 
and borne an open testimony against those indignities which you 
have often lamented, and which are so injurious to your Master's 
cause and interest at this day. The good dying man replied, 
yes, brother, I have always been deficient in courage and zeal for 
my Lord and Master, but I hope, by the riches of his mercy, 
that sin and all my other sins shall be as the iniquities of Israel, 
which shall be sought for and there shall be none, and as the sins 
of Judah, that shall not be found." — Pious Memorials of the 
Parish of Pot tm oak. by Mr, John BirrelL MS. 



IKE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



205 



the brethren to Perth ; and my brother and I came that 
night to Mr. Mair's in Orwell." — The day following he 
reached Dunfermline in safety, and found his family 
well. The week after, he attended a meeting of the 
Synod of Fife, at which, " there was carried," says he, 
" an address to the commission in favour of the four 
suspended brethren/' 

Such was the active friendship discovered by Mr. 
Erskine at the first ; nor did his zeal abate. 

" November 4, 1733." [After mentioning several 
topics in reference to which he presented his earnest 
supplications to God, he adds ;] " And also I had a 
concern about the four brethren suspended, that they 
might have the Lord's conduct." 

" Monday, Nov, 12. This day I went to Edinburgh 
to the commission, where my brother, Mr. Wilson, Mr. 
Moncrieff, and Mr. Fisher were loosed from their pas- 
toral charges, and declared no ministers of the Church 
of Scotland, When the sentence carried, I was one 
that protested against it. And before this, when the 
vote was carried, 6 Proceed to a higher censure,' Mr. 
Mair and I gave in a protest against that, when others 
that were members were dissenting from it.* 

The protest taken by six ministers immediately after 
the sentence was passed, is as follows : — 

Edinburgh, November 16th. 1733. 
" I, Mr. Gabriel Wilson, minister at Maxton, do 

* This protest against proceeding to a higher censure, is in- 
cluded in the First Testimony, where it is designated, " Decla- 
ration and protestation of some ministers upon the affair of Mr. 
Ebenezer Erskine, <Scc. given in to the commission of the Gene- 
ral Assembly met at Edinburgh the 14th day of Nov. 1733." 
He-exhibition, Pp. 27—29. 



206 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



hereby, in mine own name, and in name of all those that 
shall adhere to me, protest against this sentence of the 
commission in the case of the four brethren ; and that 
it may be lawful for me to complain of the said sentence, 
and of the several acts of Assembly that have occasioned 
the same, to any subsequent Assembly of the Church of 
Scotland ; as also, that it may be lawful for me, in a be- 
coming manner, on all proper occasions, to bear testi- 
mony against the same, with all other defections and 
severities of this church in her sentences. And finally, 
that I may in the mean time, as in providence I shall 
find opportunity, hold ministerial communion with my 
said dear brethren, as if no such sentence had been past 
against them. Upon all which, I take instruments in 
the clerk's hands. 

Gabriel Wilson, 

The above protest is adhered to by us, 
Ralph Erskine, minister at Dunfermline. 
Thomas Mair, minister at Orwell. 
John Maclaren, minister in Edinburgh. 
John Currie, minister at Kingiassie. 
James Wardlaw, minister at Dunfermline, 
Thomas Nairn, minister at Abbotshall."* 

Mr. Erskine continues the memoranda in his Diary 
thus : — 

" Monday, Dec. 3. 1733 This night my brother 

came : and the next day, Tuesday Dec. 4, I went with 
him to the Bridge of Gairney,\ where he and his other 

* Re-exhibition, P. 31. 

•f A village near Kinross. Compare Life of Eben. Erskine, 
Pp. 2/0—1, 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



207 



three brethren spent all the Wednesday in prayer and 
conference, and also the Thursday: and thereafter, 
about two o'clock, came to the resolution of constituting 
themselves into a Presbytery, which accordingly they 
did, and Mr. Mair and I were witnesses. There icas, 
I thought, much of the Lord with them; and I found 
my heart frequently warmed and drawn out in prayer 
with them. They appointed then next meeting of 
Presbytery to be in Dunfermline, February, the first 
Wednesday thereof. We returned to Dunfermline on 
Friday, and I went with him to Stirling on Saturday, 
and came there that night. 7 * 

" Sabbath, Dec. 9. I preached at Stirling for my 
brother in the forenoon, (lie lecturing .) and for Mr. Ha- 
milton afternoon, upon Ps. Ixvi. 10, 6 Thou hast tried 
us, as silver is tried.' " 

" Sabbath, Feb. 8, 1734. This day, afternoon, I con- 
cluded my sermon on the burning bush. This evening 
in family worship, singing Ps. xxh., my heart was help- 
ed to some exercise of faith on God, as my God and 
guide from my mother's womb. And afterwards in 
secret, I was helped to some strong and sweet acting of 
faith in the promise of everlasting life, John iv. 14, and 
of my being carried thither in the stream of the spring- 
well there promised in Christ Jesus. I prayed for the 
four brethren of the new Presbytery/'' 

" Wednesday, Feb. 6. This day the new Presbytery 
sat in my colleagues house; as next day, namely, 
Thursday, they sat hi my house. Many causes, from 
several corners of the land, were brought before them ; 
but thev delayed them till the grounds of then secession 
and constitution were published. Thursday, Feb. 7. 
Mr. Wilson of Perth preached here on Christ our Hope. 



208 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



and was well helped. Much of the Lord seemed to be 
with him." 

" Tuesday, July 16. The brethren kept their Pres- 
bytery in my house." 

The brethren of the new Presbytery, it thus appears, 
met with a cordial welcome at Dunfermline. Accord- 
ing to his own account, too, Mr. Erskine persisted in 
his attention to the proceedings of the judicatories, par- 
ticularly of the General Assembly, relative to them, and 
the public interests of religion. 

" May 2, 1734. I went to Edinburgh and attended 
the General Assembly." 

" May 1735. I went to the General Assembly, and 
observed what was doing ; and coming home, I went 
afterwards to the sacrament at Kinclaven, the first Sab- 
bath of June." 

u May 1736. I was a member of General Assembly, 
and endeavoured to do there what I thought was right 
and honest? 

The Diary contains nothing more regarding any of 
these three successive meetings of Assembly. This 
brief memorandum, however, shews sufficiently that in 
1736, he availed himself of his privilege as a member of 
court, to defend the cause of truth and righteousness. 
Very probably he alludes, in particular, to his humble 
efforts, at the time when the obnoxious writings of the 
Rev. Archibald Campbell, Professor of Ecclesiastical 
History in the University of St. Andrew's, were under 
the consideration of the Assembly. In a short account 
of Mr. Erskine that appeared in a well-known periodi- 
cal soon after his death, it is stated, among several in- 
stances of his active zeal, that he " made a warm ap- 
pearance in the several processes against Professors Sim- 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



209 



son and Campbell."* Subsequently too, he adopted the 
judicial testimony of the Associate Presbyteryf in which 
Mr. Campbell's errors are pointed out and confuted, 
and the unfaithfulness of the Assembly 1736, in suffer- 
ing him to escape without censure exposed, Some al- 
lusions also, to those errors occur in his sermons. Thus 
in a discourse on stability in the Faith, he says, " It is 
now a debateable point, whether there be any necessity 
for divine supernatural revelation ; whether the light of 
nature be not sufficient, without scripture, to salvation." J 
Nor were the ministers of the Secession the only 
clergymen that condemned and lamented the extreme 
leniency with which the Assembly treated Mr. Camp- 
bell. The Rev. Mr. Willison, and his brethren of the 
establishment who concurred with him in his " Testi- 
mony," viewed the matter in nearly the same light. 
Accordingly, after mentioning " several good things," 
done by the Assembly 1736, they thus qualify their 
eulogy : " But it is to be regretted that they were not 
steady and uniform in their proceedings. For while 
they discouraged and stopped some intrusions, they en- 
couraged others ; and they gave no small offence by their 
management in the affair of Professor Campbell at St. 
Andrews, who had vented several dangerous errors in 
his writings, such as his Oratio Academica, his En- 
quiry into the Origin of Moral Virtue, his discourse 
concerning enthusiasm, &c." After specifying some of 
his erroneous tenets, and adverting to the unjustifiable 
enity which characterized the settling of the cause, they 
thus conclude their remarks : " This issue of the pro- 

* Scots Magazine for 17^2, p. 510. 
f Re-exhibition, Pp. 118-133. 
£ Works, vol. I. p. 67 L 



210 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



cess, many in the Assembly, and out of it, were highly 
dissatisfied with ; judging that Mr. Campbell did justly 
deserve a sharp rebuke for the many incautious and un- 
sound expressions he has in his writings, however ortho- 
dox his explications might be. And with these we do 
heartily join."* 

Influenced to a great degree by the unhappy course 
of defection, which, notwithstanding the favourable ap- 
pearances in 1734, the Assembly in the two following 
years, according to his judgment, seemed determined to 
pursue, Mr. Erskine gradually proceeded to take more 
decided steps. 

" Augusts, 1736 — [After stating some circumstances 
relative to the administration of the Lord's Supper at 
Torphichen, where his brother Ebenezer, Mr. Moncrieff, 
and Mr. Fisher, as well as Mr. Mair and himself assist- 
ed, he thus continues :] Tuesday, went to Edinburgh. 
Wednesday, the three brethren before mentioned, and 
Mr. Mair and I were together drawing up a paper, 
which I designed to lay before the Commission, contain- 
ing the causes of a fast, and zvherein I adopted the four 
brethren s testimony. ,f Accordingly, I gave it in Thurs- 
day forenoon, August 12 ; not without much sinful fear 
and perplexity, yet with some desire to glorify God, 
and bear witness to truth, and to the cause of God's 
controversy. Many hard speeches followed upon my 
reading it. Then I desired it to be marked; which 
being refused, I took instruments that I adhered to it 
as my testimony, and Mr Man having signed the paper, 

* Fair and Impartial Testimony, Pp. 85, 86. 

f This paper is referred to in Mr. Mair's Declaration of Se- 
cession, and Mr. Erskine's adherence to it. Re-exhibition, Pp. 
154, 164. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



1 

21 



took instruments also after me. I had much thought- 
fulness about my own weakness and indisposition for 
such an attempt, and about my unworthiness. I came 
home on Saturday, and Sabbath, August 15, preached 
upon Matthew xvii. 20, 6 The Lord pardon and pity/ " 
Determined as he was, in one form or another, to 
maintain a testimony against prevailing defections, he 
felt considerable difficulty, for a time, in reconciling his 
mind to an entire secession from the established judica- 
tories ; and it was only after much anxious reflection, 
and repeated communications with the brethren, that he 
considered it Ins duty fully to acquiesce in their mea- 
sures. That this was in reality the case, is evident from 
the folio v/ing extracts : — - 

" October 1736 — Towards the end of this month I 
went up to Culfargie, and met with the four brethren, 
together with Mr. Mair. 26th, Was three nights with 
the brethren, and heard them reasoning with Mr. Mair 
and me about our present situation. Next week there 
was to be a fast held at Culfargie ; but Mr. Mair and I 
were obliged to be home at the Presbytery [of Dun- 
fermline,] when we had our paper of a testimony to be 
considered/' — " Monday Nov. 1, Mr. Mair met with 
me anent our presbyte^ .A affair. We prayed together ; 
and also set apart some time on Tuesday for that work, 
together with my colleague." — " Wednesday % Nov. 3, 
The Presbytery sat, and appointed the consideration of 
our paper betwixt and the next [meeting of] Presby- 
tery ; and the consideration of a fast." 

" Tuesday, Jan. 4, 1737, I was at Kinross, where a 
fast was kept by the four brethren, and where Mr. Mair 
and I joined in the public work, by prayer and speak- 
ing a few words of preface before it. Next day 1 was 



I 

I 



212 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



with the brethren there." — Thursday, Jan. 6, I heard 
Mr. Mair give in reasons for his secession from this 
church, and accession to the brethren : Whereupon, 
afterwards, my mind was asked, and I owned myself to 
be yet unclear — that I was taking it under considera- 
tion." 

" Saturday, Jan. 8. I set aside a part of this day for 
prayer. I was thoughtful about that great business of 
Secession, and sought the Lord would give me light." 

" Jan. 18. About this time, I wrote to Mr. Mair my 
thoughts concerning Secession, and laid down some ar- 
guments and reasons, that weighed with me against a 
present secession." 

" Saturday, Jan. 29. I had many struggles in my 
mind about secession from the judicatories and joining 
with the four brethren. I wrote a letter to Mr. Mair 
concerning my scruples ; who having sent my line to 
Messrs. Wilson and Moncreiff, they wrote letters, which 
to me were weighty,* and induced me to a farther con- 
sideration of that affair, till I was brought to think of 
joining them in the matter of the judicial testimony." 

These weighty letters, it appears, were the means, 
under Providence, of bringing him to a final resolution. 
He gives the following account of the result : 

" Dunfermline, Feb. 14, 1737. Mr. Mair came, and 
was fully resolved to make a direct absolute sort of seces- 
sion. I was not Ms length." — " Tuesday, Feb. 15. Mr. 
Mair and I prayed together. I was helped, and had my 
heart poured out in acting of faith, looking to the Lord 
for conduct, and fleeing to Jesus for pardon. Also this 
morning, Isaiah 43d and 44th chapters, last part of the 



* See Appendix, No. viii. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKTNE. 



213 



former and first part of the latter, were refreshing to 
me, and matter of pleasant meditation, somewhat en- 
couraging in the present work. Yet I was at this time 
much in darkness and confusion, yet desiring to follow 
all the light and freedom I had, namely, to adhere to 
the Testimony, and to join the brethren in their ad- 
herence to it, and disjoin the judicatories of the church, 
so far as my joining with the former made joining with 
the latter inconsistent. Accordingly, on Wednesday, 
Feb. 16, I gave in an adherence to Mr. Mairs secession, 
explaining what I meant by it.* May the Lord pity 
and lead." 

" Thursday, Feb. 17, I went with Mr. Mair to Or- 
well. Friday, Feb. 1 8. Having met with all the four 
brethren, together with Mr. Mair ; Mr. Moncrieff 
preached upon that word, ' When the enemy shall come 
in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a 
standard against him/ After sermon, the Presbytery 
met, at which time Mr. Mair and I joined with them, 
and were received into their number, after the papers 
given in to the Presbytery of Dunfermline were read. 
Then we adhered judicially to the Testimony, which, 
with our adherence to them and it, was about to be pub- 
lished. This step was indeed extraordinary; and all 
my light in it was drawn from the testimony for truth, 
and against the errors and defections of the church: 
which testimony I had faintly essayed to lift up in a 
way of communion with the church judicatories, until I 
myself was left alone, Mr. Mair being enlightened to 

* He liere refers to his paper of Adherence, which, along with 
Mr. 3Iair's Declaration of Secession, was laid before the Pres- 
bytery of Dunfermline on the 16th February, and before the As- 
sociate Presbytery on the day following. 



214 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



leave the judicatories entirely. I thouglit it were my 
sin, if I did not take the opportunity of emitting to this, 
and transmitting to the rising generation the same tes- 
timony more fully, and that in a formal judicial way ; 
since I had this occasion of doing so. Lord help !" 

It was obviously a pure sense of duty that induced 
this pious minister to take part in the Secession. He 
was far from indulging a schismatical spirit. His can- 
dour and moderation are manifest, we may remark, not 
only from these entries in his Diary, but from the whole 
strain of his paper of adherence to Mr. Mair's Declara- 
tion. Let the following expressions suffice for a speci- 
men : 

« The four brethren being particularly stirred up to 
this work by a remarkable chain of providences, I think 
myself obliged to join with them in tins matter; not as 
they are a Presbytery or judicatory separate from the 
church of Scotland, but as they are a part of that same 
church, constituting themselves in the Lord's name as a 
indicatory of ministers associate together, distinct from 
the present judicatories of this church, and witnessing 
against their corruptions and defections." " If the judi- 
catories, who at present either unjustly refuse or unduly 
delay to receive that testimony, were acting a contrary 
part, and putting hand to reformation, the same reasons 
that induce to this withdrawing, would necessarily in- 
duce to a returning; which I cordially wish I may 
quickly see good reason for." * 

Having now formally connected himself with the se- 
ceding brethren, he shared with them alike in their 



* Re-exhibition, Pp, 1G4, 1G5. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



215 



labours and sufferings. His Diary contains the follow- 
ing notices of the treatment they subsequently met 
with : — 

" Friday, Jan. 27, 1738. About this time the As- 
sociate Presbytery sat at Orwell, when I was made 
Moderator. Thence I went to Stirling and preached 
for my brother, that he might go with his other three 
brethren of the Synod of Perth to Perth, where a synod 
pro re nata % was to meet about a libel that was given 
them. I went from Stirling to Perth on the Monday, 
and was with my brother some days. The Synod dropt 
the libel, and appointed another meeting to draw up a 
representation to be given in to the General Assembly. 
The Lord reign eth, even he who is Lord of all." 

The representation here alluded to, by the Synod of 
Perth and Stirling, was supported by similar complaints 
from a variety of quarters, where the enemies of the Se- 
cession were now bestirring themselves ; for " they 
doubted whereunto this would grow." These efforts are 
glanced at in the following entry : — 

" Wednesday, May 10th. Preached at a meeting 
very numerous, in the parish of St. Ninians, upon Exod. 
hi. 2, The burning bush not consumed. At this time 
there were representations from many to be given in to 
the General Assembly against us." 

At last, in the month of April 1739, Mr. Erskine, in 
common with the other seceding brethren, had a libel 
put into his hand, drawn up and executed by the Com- 
mission, conformably to an act of Assembly passed in 

* This is a technical expression, employed to denote a meet- 
ing of an ecclesiastical court, called by the authority of the 
moderator, to consider some unexpected affair that has oc- 
curred. 



216 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



the year preceding. The memorable appearance made 
by the Associate Presbytery at the bar of the Assembly, 
in consequence of this libel, is described by him in the 
following terms : 

" Tuesday. May 15. 1739. I, with the rest of the 
Associate Presbytery, went to Edinburgh, to attend the 
General Assembly, that had given us a summons and 
a libel, to give in a Declinature. There was hot 
work in the Assembly, till it came to a vote, pwceed 
upon the libel; and it carried, proceed. Whereupon 
Thursday, May 17, we were called, and after prayer, 
went as a constituted Presbvtery, and by Mr. Mair. our 
moderator, read our declinature solemnly. The Lord 
countenanced, and Providence directed that we were 
heard, and no mouth opened against us. The Gene- 
ral Assembly sat, and heard themselves condemned ju- 
dicially, and declined; and yet their anger was restrain- 
ed from proceeding against us to any present sentence 
of deposition, but they referred that to another Assem- 
bly. We saw matter of praise to God, and accordingly 
returned, and appointed one to pray and praise." 

Agreeably to this statement, the Assembly deferred 
the passing of any sentence. They agreed, however, to 
record an earnest recommendation to the next Assem- 
bly, without further delay, to inflict the censure of de- 
position on the ministers of the Secession, in the event 
of their refusing-to retract their declinature, " and re- 
turn to then' duty and submission to this church." Ac- 
cordingly, on the 12th of May, 1740, the Assembly pro- 
ceeded actually to depose all the eight brethren who had 
then joined the Secession, including Mr. Ralph Erskine,* 



* Compare Life of Eben. Erskine, Pp. 374-376= 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKIXE. 



217 



The terms, in which the sentence of deposition was 
expressed, were by no means so clear and unequivocal 
as might have been wished ; and the following remarks, 
by Mr. Wilfison of Dundee, on this ambiguity, are 
worthy of attention : — 

" Look to the words themselves," says that writer, 
" which are — 6 they depose them from the office of the 
holy ministry, prohibiting them to exercise the same 
within this church / and we must say, we are sorry to 
see a sentence of this court so ambiguous. If these 
words, 6 within this church/ be connected with the word 
4 depose/ as well as with the word s prohibit/ they 
mean no more but that they depose them from being 
ministers of this church, and many who voted it say 
they meant no more ; so that, in this sense, the sentence 
is only a loosing of their relation from the national 
church, which the brethren themselves had done in ef- 
fect by their secession from her, by their renouncing 
her authority and jurisdiction, and refusing all com- 
munion with any of her ministers. But, on the other 
hand, if the words 6 within this church' be not connected 
with the word < depose/ then the Assembly meant to 
depose them simpliciter [absolutely] from the office of 
the ministry itself ; and in this sense manv members 
understood the sentence, and therefore a good many 
voted against it, and dissented from it. For chough 
they did not approve of their wild divisive practice, yet 
they had not freedom to unminister them ; seeing they 
looked upon them as pious orthodox Presbyterian mi- 
nisters, who had been useful in the church, and might 
still be useful in preaching Christ to lost perishing sin- 
ners. And if the sentence be taken in this sense, we 
join with those who testified against it ; in regard we 



218 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



think the world cannot easily spare any of those mini- 
sters who are upright and zealous in preaching a cru- 
cified Jesus to fallen mankind, and especially at a time 
when deism and dry moral discourses are like to thrust 
out true Christianity. Neither do we think it was time 
for the church to proceed to censure the brethren, till 
once they had done all they could to remove the evils, 
and redress the grievances, which were the grounds of 
their separation ; which, alas ! is far from being done." * 

Mr. Erskine himself, in common with all the deposed 
brethren, deemed the Assembly's sentence utterly un- 
seripturai and unwarrantable, possessing no validity in 
the sight of God, His feelings on this trying occasion, 
with his firm determination to persist in the exercise of 
his office so long as it pleased God to grant ability and 
opportunity, may be learned from his own statements. 
We have before us his notes of a sermon he preached 
to his people immediately after the sentence was pro- 
nounced. It is dated in his own hand- writing, " May 
19, 1740, after the Assembly's sentence of deposition." 
The text is Job i. 21. " The Lord gave, and the Lord 
hath taken away ; blessed be the name of the Lord." 
He begins thus : — 

" My friends, among the other great gifts that come 
from God, a gospel ministry is one. Christ, when he 
ascended up on high, received gifts for men, and gave 
gifts unto men. The ministerial gift that any has, is 
what the Lord gives. The ministerial office is what the 
Lord gives ; and I may say, even to me, who am less 
than the least of all saints, and the chief of all sinners, is 
this grace given, to preach among the Gentiles the un- 
searchable riches of Christ. And as he gave me this 

* Fair and Impartial Testimony, &c. p. 92. 



THE REV. RALPH 



ERSKIXE. 



219 



grace, this office, so he has, from time to time, given 
me some seals of my ministry, both here and elsewhere. 
And as it is God the Lord that gives, it is also the Lord 
only that can take away. Though man in his wicked- 
ness attempt to take away what God hath given, till 
God himself also do so in his providence, I dare not, at 
the will and pleasure of man, cast away what God gave ; 
and since he yet gives me opportunity, in his providence, 
of opening my mouth in his name, I embrace it as his 
continued gift; and that according to the example of the 
blessed apostles of our Lord, Acts iv. and v. When 
they were deposed from the ministry, and discharged 
by the Jewish Sanhedrim to speak any more in the 
name of Jesus, yet we find them disregarding the un- 
just sentence of men, declaring they would obey God 
rather than men, and accordingly teaching and preach- 
ing in the temple as long as God, in his providence, re- 
strained the outward violence of men from hindering th en i . 
But though the Lord should takeaway even in his respect, 
we are to say, 4 Blessed be the name of the Lord.' " 

In the prosecution of the subject, he insists chiefly on 
this proposition, " That it is a becoming frame of spirit, 
in a time of outward ad versity and affliction, so to over- 
look the wicked and malicious hand that the devil and 
his instruments may have in our trouble, as to notice 
and adore the holy hand of God therein, and to justify 
him." After briefly illustrating from Scripture exam- 
ples the nature of this happy frame, he proceeds to re- 
commend it, by describing the sovereign power of God 
in directing and controlling the operations of men and 
devils, and by adverting to his justice, wisdom, and 
goodness. " We ought to justify God," he observes, 
" because we cannot charge him with any iniquity. 



220 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



Ought we not to acquit the innocent? and what ini- 
quity have we found in God ? If we will condemn the 
guilty, we must, in the first place, condemn ourselves. 
His awful providence towards this land, this place and 
congregation, ought to lead us to condemn ourselves. 
We have provoked the Lord to anger against us ; and 
therefore we ought to be angry against ourselves for our 
sins, that have provoked God to leave the generation* 
to leave ministers and judicatories, and to leave his ser- 
vants and people to the fury of oppressors. This should 
calm our spirits, Isaiah xlii. 24. 

" Query. ' But though we may not complain of God, 
may we not complain of men ? At this rate you will 
not let us say an ill word of those that are condemning 
you, and have deposed you and your brethren.' No 
indeed ; you ought not to say a word by way of railing 
accusation, no, not against the devil, Jude v. 7. It is 
true we are not to justify the devil or his instruments, 
for their hand is a wicked hand> though the hand of God 
be holy. Who would justify Judas in betraying, or Peter- 
in denying, or the Jews in crucifying, the Lord of glory ? 

" Query, 6 What shall we say, if you be put away 
from the ministry in this congregation ?' I will tell you ? 
that as I had a unanimous call to this place twenty- nine 
years ago, so though I had another call at the same 
time to another place, which was both to what they call 
a better stipend and an easier charge, and though flesh 
and blood were for accepting of that, yet I was helped 
to resist the argument drawn from carnal considerations, 
and accept of the call to this place, because I took it to 
be the call of God, and I never yet repented that I was 
thus guided, because God has given me some seals of 
my ministry, and perhaps some evidence commendatory 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



221 



in the conscience of several, that the word has had im- 
pression on their heart. However, though I will never 
wish to be a burden to you, yet, if you continue to 
make choice of me for your minister, I also continue 
my choice of you, and judge it is only God's immediate 
hand that can loose the relation. Therefore, if my 
heart deceive me not, I would rather choose to suffer 
with you — to live on bread and water — for the little 
time that I may yet have in this world, than to have an 
active hand in separating what God has joined. But 
if any in this congregation, on account of any unwar- 
rantable act of any assembly of men, shall prove deser- 
ters of my ministry, I must tell them, in the name of the 
Lord, they will bring upon themselves the guilt of that 
act, and the sin of the judicatory that presumed to 
loose what God hath joined, and to take away what 
God hath given. I design, as the Lord shall give health, 
and ability, and liberty, to prosecute my ministry among 
you, in the name and strength of the Lord. But if any 
sinfui sentence of men shall tempt you to despise and 
disparage my ministerial office and work, you must 
answer for it before his awful tribunal, where you must 
have some other thing than the authority of any assem- 
bly to bear you out." 

His unpublished discourses from other texts supply 
further evidence of the fortitude he displayed, and con- 
tain seasonable instructions on the duty of suffering for 
Christ's sake. But not to multiply quotations, we shall 
only cite a passage from his printed works, where he 
explicitly refers to the source from which he derived 
sweet consolation, under the bitterest feelings and an- 
ticipations occasioned by the Assembly's attempt to 
deprive him of his office. It occurs in an exhortation 



222 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



addressed to his people at a sacramental solemnity ob- 
served at Dunfermline, August 10, 1740, about three 
months after the sentence was pronounced : — 

" Let it not trouble you that all things seem to be 
against you, as Jacob once said, when he thought Joseph 
was lost, and feared that Benjamin also was like to be 
lost, All these things are against me. If he had waited 
a while, he would have heard that all these things were 
for him ; and you know when he heard again of Joseph, 
It is enough, says he, Joseph is yet alive. So you are 
perhaps saying, All things are against me ; many dark 
providences are against me ; many ministers are against 
me ; good men and bad join together against me ; pres- 
byteries, synods, and assemblies are against me ; all the 
kirk judicatories of the established Church of Scotland 
are against me, and against the way that I am taking, 
and the cause that I am espousing ; the last Assembly 
hath shewed this with a witness, by deposing all the 
ministers here, and condemning the whole Reformation 
cause that you are appearing for ; and inferior judica- 
tories, since that time have homologate and appro ven 
of their deed ; all these things are against me. Why 
Joseph, I think, is gone ; Jesus, hy his Spirit, is with- 
drawn and gone away ; and I fear the little Benjamins 
will be taken away also ; that the little remnant, that 
is reserved, will be taken away with a flood of opposi- 
tion and persecution by church and state. What may 
fall out, the Lord knows ; the aspect of affairs is awful 
indeed. But be not vexed and troubled, believer ; let 
it ease your heart and mind that all things are of God, 
who as the God of providence over-rules all events ; let 
it suffice you, that Joseph is yet alive and is governor 
over all the land of Egypt — that Jesus is alive, and is 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



223 



the governor among the nations, and the government 
of Zionis laid upon his shoulders. It is enough to faith, 
that Jesus is alive, and that the Father hath given all 
things into his hand, even all power in heaven and in 
earth."* 

In the important affair of seceding from the judica- 
tories of the established church. Mr. Erskine was ulti- 
mately supported by a great proportion of his elders 
and hearers. In the first instance, indeed, the Session 
appear to have been somewhat averse to so bold a mea- 
sure. An entry, dated February 14, 1737, a few days 
before he gave in his accession to the Associate Pres- 
bytery, contains the following expressions: — u The elders 
met with me in my house to pray, and confer about my 
withdrawing from the judicatories, and joining with the 
brethren. They were generally against the deed, being, 
I suppose, surprised, fearing the issue. I was brought 
to some determination to leave events to the Lord, and 
to fall in with the opportunity of joining the Secession." 
On mativrer consideration, however, most of them saw 
reason to justify and imitate this part of their minister's 
conduct. He has accordingly the following memor- 
anda : — 

" Dec. 15, 1737 was a fast in Dunfermline. The 
Session had appointed it upon their own act and grounds, 
and particularly adopted the testimony, as to the matter 
of it. I preached in the afternoon upon these words. 
6 Ye have robbed me.'" 

" Feb. 11, 1739. — This day five elders met in Mas- 
terton for prayer and conference about the present state 

* Works, Vol. ii. p. 127. 

I 



224 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



of affairs in the kirk and congregation ; Harry Fisher, 
James Wardlaw, James Bogie, John Letham, and John 
Brand. They were, as I was told, most unanimous, 
and much helped of the Lord, and strengthened in 
prayer, and strengthened one another : all clear against 
joining the judicatories, and for befriending the Associate 
Presbytery. Lord, guide and direct." 

" Thursday. May 24. — I preached, and then kept 
session ; wherein I read to them the declinature of the 
Associate Presbytery, and proposed they should there- 
upon take it under their consideration, in order to deli- 
berate on then duty at this day ; which, accordingly, 
they took under their consideration " 

" May 27. — This evening I kept session, and caused 
read the motions gone into on Thursday, because they 
were now more fully convened. No objection was 
made save by one, who inquired if it intended a seces- 
sion from my colleague Mr. Wardlaw. But this not 
being the question on the field, there was no more said." 

" Wednesday, Nov. 14, 1739. — I preached, and af- 
terwards the session met, and judicially resolved to 
withdraw their connexion from the judicatories of the 
established church, so far as not to send any member to 
them ; and as to cases that would require a reference to 
any superior judicatory, they resolved that before any 
such case was referred, a full session should be called, 
and then it should be considered whether the case 
should be referred to the established church, or to the 
Associate Presbytery/' 

The records of the session of Dunfermline serve to 
corroborate the statements of the Diary. They contain 
a copy of a petition which the session, on the 2d 
March 1734, agreed to present to the Presbytery of 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



225 



Dunfermline. The petition in question, which occupies 
a number of pages, enumerates various defections of the 
church, and requests the Presbytery to give suitable in- 
structions to their commissioners to next Assembly for ob- 
taining the removal of the causes of complaint. Amongst 
other grievances, the petitioners complain of the act of 
Assembly 1732, respecting the planting of vacant 
churches, as contrary to Scripture and to the books of 
discipline ; " thrusting in ministers upon parishes, 
whereby the parishioners are not only called to own the 
person intended for their own lawful pastor, but also 
deprived of the benefit of sealing ordinances from any 
other they have freedom to join, which practical excom- 
munication we humbly judge very rigid and pernicious." 
" Considering," add the petitioners, " that four faithful 
ministers of the church are, by the sentence of Assembly 
and commission, suspended from the exercise of their 
office, and declared to be no more ministers of this 
church, and all the ministers thereof prohibited to join 
with or employ them, merely because of their testify ing 
against the said act of Assembly 1732, and not submit- 
ting to the censures and sentence of the Assembly and 
commission that followed thereupon, we are persuaded 
that the said sentence cannot make it unlawful for us to 
join with the said ministers, as ministers of the gospel of 
Jesus Christ." 

The session, moreover, having appointed a congre- 
gational fast to be held in December 1737, then 1 re- 
corded reasons for that solemnity throw light on the 
state of feeling among its members, in reference to those 
public evils which occasioned the secession. From these 
reasons, which the two ministers and several elders had 
been appointed to draw up, we make the following extracts. 



226 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



Amongst the various causes for humiliation, the}' spe- 
cify, " The woeful and £ad animosities and divisions among 
ministers and people in the land ; many of the Lord's 
own servants and children not seeing with the same eye 
in public matters ; manifold jealousies and evil sur- 
misings, much envy, strife, railing and evil speaking, 
bitterness and buffeting, and many dangerous deviations 
from the duties of brotherly love, Christian forbearance, 
and conscientious attendance on gospel-ordinances , la- 
mentable defections from the once glorious covenanted 
reformation, and the various steps of departure from it 
both in former and present times ; with all the causes 
of divine wrath specified in a late Act and Testimony 
emitted by the associate brethren ; all which, materially 
considered, we hold as here repeated, and own as good 
grounds of fasting and humiliation : Considering further 
the late sinful compliance made by the plurality of the 
ministers of Scotland, their reading an act of Parlia- 
ment, plainly Erastian, and thereby practically disclaim- 
ing the sole headship and supremacy of our Lord Jesus 
Christ over his church:* 

* This sentence obviously refers to the act of Parliament for 
the discovery of those concerned in executing Captain John Por- 
teous at Edinburgh, Sep. 7< 1736. All the clergymen of Scot- 
land were enjoined, under certain ecclesiastical penalties, to read 
this extraordinary act, in the time of divine service in their 
churches, every first Sabbath of the month, for a whole year. 
Mr. Erskine alludes to it in his Diary, as follows :-— u August 
1737. Being the day an act of Parliament was appointed to be 
read by ministers anent the murder of C. Porteous, a most Eras- 

tian act, I lectured on 2 Cor. iii. 6 : and in my lecture 

noticed ministers' ofhce its being spiritual, and their being spi- 
ritual heralds ? where I took occasion to show my mind a little 
against the reading- of that act. Also afternoon, preaching on 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



227 



w And finally, taking into our consideration the great 
need that this session, as well as all the Lord's people 
and servants have, ' to seek of him a right way for us 
and our little ones, and particularly a right way of tes- 
tifying against all the God -dishonouring evils and cor- 
ruptions of the times, and of the judicatories of this 

church, Therefore the session did, and hereby do 

appoint Thursday the 15th of tin's month, December 
1737, to be observed for that solemn and important 
work, earnestly calling and intreating ail persons with- 
in this congregation — — that they be fervent in 
prayer for the pouring down of the Spirit of grace and 
supplications upon ministers and people, that God would 

return to us mercifully ; that he would preserve 

a gospel ministry and pure gospel ordinances ; relieve 
his oppressed heritage that have been robbed of their 
rights and privileges by the violent obtruding of hirelings 
upon them ; that he would graciously assist, 

Math. iii. ult., I had a use of caution against every thing dis- 
pleasing to God, especially in a day wherein he shows his wrath 
and displeasure." The same matter is alluded to in one of his 
published sermons, vol. ii. p. 23; where a note is subjoined by 
the editor, shortly stating the circumstances of that memorable 
transaction. We find too, from a memorandum in one of his 
note books, that the Presbytery to which he belonged, sent a 
communication to the Synod of Fife, expressing their disapproba- 
tion of the reading of the act, which they asked to be inserted in 
the records of Synod. 3Ir. Willison, in his " Fair and Impartial 
Testimony," p. 83, while he states that " several pious and con- 
scientious ministers read this act," adduces various arguments, 
which determined him and the other subscribers of that Testi- 
mony, " to join with those who bore testimony against the read- 
ing of the foresaid act, and to run the hazard of all its penalties." 
Compare Life of Eben. Eskine, p. 473. 



228 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



direct, and prosper his sent servants that are making, 
or desirous to make, an honest attempt towards refor- 
mation ; that he would graciously influence and 

stir up many to a faithful appearing for him. by putting 
hand to such work in this day of deep defection and 
degeneracy ; that he would bring all his sent servants 
and people to be of one heart and way in his cause, turn 
away the tokens of his anger, and in wrath remember 
mercy." 

The subsequent proceedings of the session are thus 
detailed in the record : — 

Dunfermline May 24, 1739. — After prayer by Mr. 
Erskine, moderator. — The moderator informed the ses- 
sion that he, together with the rest of his brethren of 
the Associate Presbytery, had, by an act of their Pres- 
bytery, read judicially by them in the General Assembly 
at Edinburgh on Thursday last week, being the 17th of 
this month, declined the judicatories of tins church that 
were carrying on a course of defection, as no lawful and 
right constitute courts of Christ. And having read in 
the session the said act or declinature mentioned, de- 
sired that the session should take it under their consi- 
deration, in order to deliberate upon what might be 
their duty with reference to the said judicatories, in 
consequence of the said act ; that after serious prayer, 
both in secret and otherwise, they might come to de- 
termine themselves in due time to what the Lord should 
clear up to be incumbent upon them, on tins head. 
Which motion the session unanimously agreed to. 
Whereupon Mr. Erskine desired it to be marked, that 
as the session, their having for some time by-past sus- 
pended and withdrawn their connexion with the su- 
perior judicatories on account of their corruptions and 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



229 



defections, such as are specified in the foresaid declina- 
ture, had given him freedom to continue hitherto in this 
session, notwithstanding of his being a member of the 
Associate Presbytery in secession from the said judica- 
tories ; — so the session's going into this motion contri- 
butes also, in conjunction with the foresaid consideration, 
to continue yet his former freedom to sit and to preside in 
tins session, notwithstanding the foresaid declinature, 
until the session have due time to deliberate upon this 
weighty matter now tabled before them, and to look up 
to heaven for the Lord's determining them to that which 
they shall judge from his word to be their duty with re- 
ference to this matter in their sphere, and in a suitable- 
ness to the circumstances of the church of Scotland at 
this juncture." 

"Dunfermline, Oct. 28, 1739. — The session resumed 
the consideration of their former resolution of suspend- 
ing their connexion with the present judicatories of the 
established church. The plurality of the members pre- 
sent declared that they were for continuing in an inter- 
pendent situation, without holding a connexion with the 
established church ; and agreed that this overture should 
be read before the session upon Sabbath the 11th Nov. 
to be approven or disapproven of by them." 

" Dunfermline, Nov. 14, 1739. [After prayer by 
the Rev. Mr. Warcllaw, moderator.] This day, the 
session having heard the overture of the 28th October 
last read, they, in order to keep harmony among them, 
approved of the same, with this amendment, that the 
first difficult matter, which in the nature of the thing, 
requires a reference to a superior court before it be de- 
termined — that a full meeting of the session shall be 



230 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



called, and they then determine, whether the same shall 
be judged by the Established Church or the Associate 
Presbytery."* 

In spring 1740, when matters were approaching to a 
crisis, the elders differed in opinion with regard to the 
propriety of referring a particular case of discipline to 
the Presbytery of Dunfermline ; and each prepared to 
take his side. About the same time a tent was erected 
in a green, " Clerk Wilson's yard, where Mr. Gillespie's 
meeting-house stands," in which Mr. Erskine conducted 
divine service one part of the day, while the other part, 
so long as permission was given him, he continued to 
preach hi the church. It appears that eventually, of 
about twenty-six elders and deacons, seven stood neutral, 
five remained in connexion with the national chinch, and 
fourteen seceded.f 

A great majority of the people, as well as most of the 
members of session, concurred with him in espousing 
the cause of the Secession. The alacrity they discovered 
in contributing for the erection of a new place of wor- 
ship, as soon as the near prospect of his deposition 
by the Assembly rendered this measure indispensable, 
seems to have excited equally his gratitude and sur- 
prise. His own account of then proceedings is as fol- 
lows : — 

4i April 1739. About this time a libel and summons 
were put into our hand from the commission, to appear 
before the next Assembly ; and what happened in this 
parish was very remarkable. Some three weeks ago. 
upon the hearing of the libel, our session, all except four 
or five, met in order to contribute for a meeting-house 



MS. by D. Inglis. f Ibid - 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



231 



in case of the Assembly's sentence of deposition ; and 
then they went through the parish for subscriptions, and 
the people generally and heartily subscribed, some less 
and some more, according to their ability, and very 
quickly made a considerable sum, which at present is 
going on, this being the 17th of April, It is expected 
that at least four hundred pounds sterling will be gather- 
ed in the parish, even among the poorer sort for the 
most part ; and many that have given, declaring that, in 
case of need, they will give as much again. This col- 
lection by. subscription is so universal that it is surpris- 
ing and astonishing both to friends and enemies. Great 
and wondrous are thy works, Lord God Almighty ; 
and what am I that such favour should be expressed to- 
wards me in this place ! Lord, help rightly to improve 
this providence." 

This liberal subscription was speedily followed by the 
erection, in Queen Anne's Street at the head of the town, 
of a large church, capable of accommodating about two 
thousand people ; where he preached the gospel with 
fidelity and high acceptance, to a numerous and attached 
congregation, till death removed him to the upper sanc- 
tuary. In notes of a sermon which he delivered about 
this time from 2 Cor. vi. 18, we have found the follow- 
ing paragraph ; in which he seems to refer to the unex- 
pected generosity of his hearers as well in making pro- 
vision for his maintenance, as in building a house for 
worship : 

" I find at present in this congregation the generality 
of the people therein giving such an evidence of their 
favour towards me as I never expected, never desired, 
never proposed; nor did it ever enter my head or 
thought And I own I should be very ungrateful, if I 



232 LIFE AND DIARY Of 

did not entertain a kindly favour and affection for you. 
There is another token of your favour to me," he adds 
in the true spirit of a minister of Christ, " that I would 
desire at your hand ; and that is, that you will accept of 
my message that I have to you from my glorious Lord 
and Master Jesus Christ, by coming to him for salvation 
to your soul ; that you match with him as your head and 
husband, your friend and father, and come to him for 
grace and glory, that you may be happy in him, in life 
and death, judgment and eternity. And to evidence 
your grant of this favour, I desire, for the Lord's sake, 
that you will set apart an hour or two in some secret 
place for meditation, prayer, self- examination, and im- 
ploring the mercy of God in Christ, and crying for the 
Spirit of Christ to be sent into your heart, both to con- 
vince you of sin and to reveal to you the Saviour, and 
powerfully to bless the reading and preaching of the 
word." After replying to the objections that some might 
urge against compliance with this affectionate counsel, 
he concludes with solemn admonitions respecting the 
danger of refusing to build on that precious corner-stone 
which is laid in Zion, and the necessity of an immediate 
improvement of the day of grace. 

Among other cheering expressions of public favour, 
he was not a little encouraged by the increased con- 
fluence of Christians from various parts of the country 
to the sacramental solemnities of Dunfermline, whilst he 
rejoiced above ail, to find that these hallowed seasons 
proved in the experience of many souls, " times of re- 
freshing from the presence of the Lord." Of this we 
shall give one example, in his own words. It relates to 
the first opportunity of administering the Lord's Supper at 
home, after his accession to the Associate Presbytery : — 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



233 



" Sabbath, July 10, 1737. The sacrament was in Dun- 
fermline ; and I preached half an hour before the action 
began, about half before eight in the morning, upon 
Matth. iii. 17. The tables began to be served a little 
after nine, and continued till about twelve at night, there 
being betwixt four and five thousand communicants. 
I hear from several hands, that the Lord owned the oc- 
casion. Ministers were well helped, and many people 
heartened. After I had served the first table, I com- 
municated at the second, which my colleague served. 
I was helped, for my heart trusted in the Lord ; and 
afterwards, I preached on the same text in the church- 
yard tent, and was assisted there." 

To have obtained the cordial concurrence and sup- 
port of his worthy colleague, in withdrawing from the 
established judicatories, would have afforded heart-felt 
pleasure to Mr. Erskine ; but an all- wise though inscru- 
table Providence did not indulge him with this satis- 
faction. We have seen, indeed, that Mr. Wardlaw, to a 
certain extent, befriended the cause of the four brethren ; 
that at one time he even invited them to hold their meet- 
ings as a constituted Presbytery in his own house, and 
that acquiescing in the reasons of the congregational 
fast held in December 1737, he gave a general approval 
to their Act and Testimony. He was not disposed, 
nevertheless, to become a decided Seceder. Mr. Er- 
skine, accordingly, in an entry dated February 20, 1737, 
a few days after his accession to the Associate Presby- 
tery, remarks, that he knew his " colleague was dis- 
pleased at tins step." They continued, however, in a 
great degree, to conduct themselves towards each other 



234 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



in a manner befitting the Christian temper, as appears 
from the following short memoranda : — 

" February 22, 1737. This evening my colleague 
came to my house with another gentleman ; and having 
taken my colleague alone, I talked with him, in a friend- 
ly way, about the peace and concord we should study ; 
declaring I had made no secession from him, and that 
we ought to abstain from every word, that should seem 
to import as if there were any difference in public be- 
twixt him and me ; to which he assented. And I found 
him, and the people generally, more easy than I had 
feared." 

" Sabbath, Feb. 27. I lectured forenoon, and had a 
note concerning people joining with the builders, whether 
in the inside or outside of the wall, in order to caution 
people against leaving my colleague. The Lord made 
my colleague and me to harmonize and agree about this 
time, both in private and public, much more than I 
feared, after my secession." 

" Monday, July 18. I essayed to keep my room for 
praying, my colleague having consented that that day, 
he and we should keep it for prayer about light and 
direction." 

Yet, considering the weakness of humanity, none will 
be surprised to find, that when the public matters at 
issue drew near to an extremity, the mutual harmony of 
these excellent men was somewhat impaired. 

" Sabbath, May 7, 1738 — Afternoon, my colleague 
fell upon the secession before his close, alleging in his 
sermon, that though the defection in Israel was universal, 
vet Caleb and Joshua went not out from them ; and that 
we were to wait upon God, who had other ways of de~ 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



235 



livering his church than some thought of. This was 
very uneasy to me, and obliged me in the [evening] ex- 
ercise to say something on that subject. This was a 
trial I did not just now expect, after some former exer- 
cise and assistance the Lord afforded. No doubt mat- 
ters are coming to an extremity in the church. May 
the Lord pity, help and guide, and mercifully over-rule. 

" December 1738. — My circumstances with my col- 
league about this time were trying ; he differing from 
our way of testifying, and some people leaving him, and 
his crying out against them." 

The good offices of friends, it appears, were some- 
times employed for the purpose of allaying the heat of 
Mr. Wardlaw's zeal against the Secession. " Friday, 
Aug. 17, 1739. Mr. Fisher had a communing in my 
room with my colleague Mr. Wardlaw, and put him to 
silence, yet in a very calm way of reasoning." 

The unhappy difference betwixt the two colleagues, 
and the allusions to the Secession in their public minis- 
trations are adverted to in a manuscript repeatedly 
quoted in these pages, in the following terms : — 

" There was also a pulpit war betwixt Mr. Erskine 
and Mr. Wardlaw, which continued till Mr. Erskine 
was put out of the kirk. What Mr. Erskine spoke in 
the forenoon with respect to the defection and back- 
slidings of the Established Church, and the lav, fulness 
and necessity of the brethren's separating from them, 
Mr. Wardlaw contradicted in the afternoon, saying, 
that the Associate Presbytery were unnatural children, 
and ought to have pleaded with their mother, and that 
it was at best a setting up of altar against altar. Much 
was said on both sides, and many Scriptures cited."* 

* MS. by D. Inglis. 



236 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



Various passages, already quoted from Mr. Erskine ? s 
Diary, give evidence, that it was not without humble 
prayer to God, he formed his views, and adopted his 
measures regarding the Secession. The same docu- 
ment enables us, however, to show still more particu- 
larly, with what earnestness, and with what solemnity, 
he implored the Divine direction on this subject. That 
in this critical conjuncture, he was very frequently em- 
ployed in extraordinary prayer and fasting, both in his 
closet and family, appears from the following extracts : — 

" Saturday, Aug. 17, 1734. — Having proposed this 
to be a day of personal fasting and humiliation, being 
stirred up by Boston on that subject,* I attempted to 
follow the directions he gives. After my ordinary of 
reading Psalm xxxi. with some attention and prayer, I 
read the Scriptures marked by Boston, and also the 
things required and forbidden in the several commands, 
noticing especially what I stood particularly chargeable 
with, and then went to prayer and confession. En- 
deavoured a confession of my heart and nature sin, my 
sins of practice in childhood, youth, riper age, and older 
age ; laying my finger especially on the greatest sore, 
and owning unbelief and atheism the root of my other sins. 
I was a little humbled, and, among other tilings, for my 
want of humiliation, and my sin against every part of 
God's law; and I was led to put my right hand and 
right eye sin into the hand of Christ, that he might 
break the same. Then I arose and considered the co- 
venant of promise, and went again to God as a pro- 

* He alludes to a c< Memorial concerning personal and family 
fasting and humiliation/' subjoined to the View of the Cove- 
nant of Grace. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



237 



mising God, and put my soul under the sacrifice, the 
atonement, the propitiation, the ransom, acknowledging 
I had no righteousness in all the world to shelter in, but 
that. I had, in the whole of the work, some secret per- 
suasion of acceptance through Christ, and looked to the 
promise as standing fast in Christ, the fulfiUer of the 
condition. I was led to lay hold upon the promise as in 
Christ, made to him principally ; and particularly the 
promise of eternal life, and this as one branch of it, 
the Spirit as a well of water for sanctification. 1 was 
led to seek this as a promise made on the condition of 
Christ's doing and dying, and for the regard that God 
has to that righteousness of Christ ; winch regard he has 
testified by raising him from the dead, and giving him 
glory. I sought, therefore, on this ground of Christ's 
obedience and satisfaction, which God so much regards, 
that I might be sanctified and made to honour him, and 
have my sin killed, and my soul quickened." 

" Nov, 20, 1 734. It was put in my mind to appoint 
a family fast ; and I had in view deliverance from my 
own sinfulness, and the subduing of my strong corrup- 
tion. Accordingly, Saturday, November 23d, forenoon, 
I called all my family together that were capable, and 
spent the whole forenoon in prayer, singing, and read- 
ing, particularly Neh. ix. Ps. xxv. xxxii. xxxv. li. xxxix. 
xc. Rom. iii.j and Larger Catechism, reading the duties 
required and the sins forbidden on every command ; 
intermixing prayer and praise, confession and supplica- 
tion. O may the Lord follow it with his special bless- 
ing." 

" Saturday ) Dec, 25, 1736. I proposed, this fore- 
noon, to set apart some time for fasting, prayer, and 
humiliation. I was led to acknowledge the sin of my 

L 



238 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



nature, and my former iniquities ; my ingratitude to- 
wards God to this day, notwithstanding his kindness to- 
wards me. Here I had such a view of my sinfulness as 
led me to acknowledge I deserved a hotter hell than 
that of heathens, than Sodom and Gomorrah, yea than 
devils. And I thought, 6 yea what revenge' I ought to 
meditate against myself, and cried down the vengeance 
of God upon my sins and lusts, and put them in the 
hands of Jesus to be destroyed, acknowledging it was 
impossible for me to forgive myself, and desiring to 
look towards Jesus with shame and confusion of face. 
Yet, as I was led to hope in his name and word, so to 
look to the blood and righteousness of Christ, and to his 
mediation, who is God- man, and whose obedience and 
satisfaction were of infinite value ; and thereupon to 
hope and to cry for the promised Spirit. I was made 
also to reflect with wonder on the white lines of love 
and mercy from time to time, that were mixed with the 
black lines of sin and guiltiness that ran through the 
several periods of my life ; remembering how many times 
the Lord had made crooked things straight. I was led 
also to look to his ' Lo I am with you,' with respect to 
my public work ; and to seek his best blessing to my 
wife according to his word, Isaiah xlii. 16, and to flee 
again to his covenant with my children, the lass and the 
five lads ; remembering one of the words I had read this 
day, Prov. xiii. 22, 6 A good man leaveth an inheritance 
to his children's children.' I thought the only and the 
best inheritance I would leave my children and their 
posterity, if given them, was God himself ; that he would 
be their God for ever and ever, according to the cove- 
nant of promise — 6 thy God and the God of thy seed.' " 
" Monday, Jan, 15, 1739. I set apart this day, fore- 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



239 



noon, with my family ; because the praying societies 
were to meet, by the advice of the Associate Presbytery, 
for humiliation and prayer, for the Lord's ordering 
public concerns, now when a Libel is forming against 
us. This week, knowing the need, the great need, of 
fasting and prayer, I put on a resolution, every Saturday, 
to make part of it a time of fasting ; by myself alone, 
the first Saturday, and with my family the next, and so 
on by turns carried on." 

" Saturday. Feb, 17. After family worship, set a 
little time apart. After looking to some Scriptures, and 
meditation on my innumerable sins, and yet acknow- 
ledging that the Lord had borne me from the belly, and 
carried me from the womb, according to Isaiah xlvi. 3, 
4, 4 And even to old age I am He, and to hoar hairs 
will I carry you, and I will deliver,' I was made with 
weeping and mourning to look again to his holy temple, 
and to his gracious promise. My heart was poured out 
before the Lord like water, and I was made anew to 
cleave to him. I wondered also at the office I am called to, 
acknowledging they should be angels and holy persons 
that are witnesses for him, yet declaring before God that 
I thought it was some regard to his great name that 
swayed me in going out to this business. This evening 
also I earnestly solicited to have the Lord with me the 
following day, the Sabbath, acknowledging my sin and 
the sin of the congregation, saying, behold, I am vile ; 
behold, the congregation is vile ; behold, the land is vile. 
This was a loud behold^ heard in heaven : yet I was 
made to set against it another behold, or rather to, that 
was as loud, even < Lo, I am with you/ the promise and 
the prayer of Christ ; and on this ground drew en- 
couragement from God as a God in Christ, a God hear- 



j 



240 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



ing the cry of the blood of Christ. In this view, my 
heart was drawn out in prayer, on the faith of the pro- 
mise, acknowledging I had no other arguments to plead 
upon for the poor congregation/' 

" Saturday, Aug. 25, 1739. This day I kept part 
of the forenoon with my family. My heart was much 
melted and poured out, both in speaking on the last four 
verses of the Book of Lamentations, and also in prayer. 
It was a very pleasant time." 

Amidst unfeigned contrition and deep abasement, Mr, 
Erskine, as the reader will observe, discovers, in these 
passages, a distinct consciousness of his own integrity in 
making common cause with the brethren, that were lift- 
ing up a public testimony in behalf of injured truth. 
The piety of his motives, his holy contempt of the un- 
just reproach he might incur, and his cheerful confidence 
in God both for direction in the path of duty, and for 
temporal provision for himself and family in the pros- 
pect of losing the advantages of the civil establishment, 
will further appear from the following extracts : — 

" Tuesday, March 8, 1737. After reading Is. Kv. 
I was much helped, quickened, and strengthened in 
prayer, humbled under a sense of sinfulness, yet led to 
some lively hope in his word for myself, my work, my 
wife and children ; desiring also to wait upon him for 
clearing me further in the great step 1 have now taken, 
being content though I should be the scorn of fools, and 
the song of the drunkard, if he would enable me to bear 
his cross and despise the shame, [wishing] only that he 
would form me for himself to show forth his praise, and 
take my name in his hand, and let the spirit of glory 
and of God rest upon me, and bring glory to himself 
out of this testimony, which I thought, was like that in 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



241 



Is. Ixii. 10, < Gather out the stones, lift up a standard 
for the people.' May the Lord guide, and keep from 
darkness and delusion. This evening I was made in 
some measure, to look to the Lord Jesus in that promise 
Is. xlii. 16, now when I was not only i blind,' but in a 
way that I neither knew nor have known, that he would 
grant the promised leading (he being anointed to be the 
leader;) and that he would in due time make darkness 
more and more light, and crooked things straight. Also 
that he would help me to wait upon him as Lord of all 
having all things in his hand, for providing for my fa- 
mily, and that in the mount of the Lord it might be 
seen." 

" Sabbath, March 13, 1737. This morning I desired 
to look towards the Lord for help, and I was helped in 
the day's work. Betwixt sermons, and being to preach 
afternoon upon 1 Cor. xv. 55, 6 O death, where is thy 
sting ?' &c, before I went out, I sat down on my knees, 
and was helped to offer up a short ejaculation with fer- 
vour, and to say, I will go in the strength of a promis- 
ing God. of a promising Christ, and of a promising and 
promised Spirit ; and this afternoon I was quickened 
in preaching and praying. Also this evening, after I 
had seen some sick people, I was strengthened with 
strength in my soul in prayer, and had some joy and 
peace in believing the promises of God ; humbled un- 
der a sense of sinfulness and emptiness, and yet made 
to glory in Christ as wisdom, righteousness, sanctinca- 
tion and redemption, and every thing I needed. I was 
made also, in the consideration of my present circum- 
stances to say, 6 I am a wonder unto many, but be thou 
my strong refuge. I will fear no evil, if thou be with 
me. now when I am in a way that I do not know, in a 



242 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



path I have not known.' I was made to plead with 
God on account of what Christ did and suffered, and 
for the love he has to Christ, and for the glory he has 
by Christ. Thus to plead with God was sweet and 
melting to my soul. I was made also, with outpour- 
ing of soul, to commit anew my wife and children to the 
Lord, looking towards him in the promise, 6 These 
things I will do, and not forsake,' 6 I will be thy God, 
and the God of thy seed.' I was made to lay hold on 
this covenant, and the name of God declared therein, 
and to cast my children particularly on the care of the 
Lord Jesus, the Father's Trustee, and to look again 
to him as Lord of all, resolving with myself to be easy 
in the faith, and hope of their being intrusted to him." 

These extracts afford a satisfactory specimen of the 
pious and disinterested principles, by which the foun- 
ders of the Secession were actuated in leaving the esta- 
blishment ; and of the cautious, deliberate, and prayer- 
ful manner in which they were enabled to proceed. 
Some zealous church-men, we are sorry to find, still 
continue, with a wonderful pertinacity, to ascribe their 
conscientious withdrawment from the national church, 
to pride and resentment. This unjust and un candid 
charge, however, having been formerly adverted to, as 
well as several other ill-founded aspersions, cast on the 
first ministers of the Associate Presbytery,* let it now 
suffice to lay before the reader a few sentences from 
" Thoughts on the Case of the Four Brethren," includ- 
ed in a Speech, addressed to the Synod of Merse and 
Teviotdale, by a Clergyman who lived and died in the 
communion of the Church of Scotland, and who, in 

* Life of Eben, Erskine, Pp. 391—407, 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



243 



piety, humility, good sense, and extensive usefulness, 
has had but few equals in any church : — 

" 4 Judge not,' says our Lord, f that ye be not judg- 
ed ; for with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judg- 
ed ; and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured 
to you again/ Let us not, Moderator, judge our breth- 
ren, (professing that with them it is principle and con- 
science,) to be biassed by pride, humour, blind zeal, po- 
pularity, Szc. For ' who art thou that/ in such a case, 
'judgest another man's servant?' All church judica- 
tories ought, and. unless they be animated by an anti- 
christian spirit* will in the case of then 1 pannels, distin- 
guish betwixt conscience and contempt ; and will endea- 
vour to suit and adjust their conduct and measures to 
them accordingly. If our brethren, Moderator, have, 
in some instances, failed in paying the ordinary regard 
due to our forms in ordinary cases, if, I say, in this they 
have at all erred, I firmly believe it was for fear of erring : 
which, with all who exercise themselves to keep a con- 
science void of offence, first towards God, and in the 
next place towards men, should make theirs a very fa- 
vourable case." 

Having made the remark, that, it may be easily un- 
derstood how men faithfully delivering God's message, 
cannot be persuaded to retract it, unless convicted 
from the Bible, of some error or mistake, he thus con- 
tinues : — 

" The wonder with us should rather be, how men en- 
dued with self-love, come to venture on such an extra- 
ordinary piece of conduct. For, how much soever such 
a way of doing may be nicknamed and loaded among 
men, it is not, (when one's reputation, usefulness, out- 
ward peace and comfort, and in a word> all in this 



•244 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



world, is at stake,) I persuade myself, soon or easily at- 
tained unto. And, therefore, to be true to one's own 
conscience at so much cost, is, and, (let others account 
it, and call it as they list.) will ever be honourable in 
my eyes, even though it were under a mistake." — 
" What think you of our Lord's defending and justify- 
ing his disciples for then 1 refusing conformity to the 
traditions of the elders, and these, one would think, 
very innocent and harmless ones too? Markvii. 1 — 13. 
Ah ! Moderator, would we, who are the ruling, com- 
manding Church, learn subjection to Christ, as punc- 
tually as we would have our brethren to learn subjec- 
tion to us, our differences of this sort would soon be at 
an end.''* 

* See a scarce pamphlet, entitled, " The Mind of the Modest, 
Holy, and Learned Mr. Thomas Boston, concerning the Act of 
Assembly 1732, while it was yet an Overture ; also a Speech re- 
lative to the same subject, with some Thoughts on the Case of 
the Four Brethren," Pp. 25 — 37- 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



245 



CHAPTER VI. 

Death of Mr. Wardlaw — Notices of his Family — Appointment 
of Successors to Messrs. Erskine and Wardlaw in the Parish 
Church of Dunfermline — Warnings by Mr. Erskine to his 
People — His activity at home and abroad — Services at the Ordi- 
nations of Jlessrs. John Hunter and John Swanston, and at 
Mr. Fisher's admission — Sermons before the Associate Presby- 
tery and Synod — Solemn covenanting at Dunfermline — Mr. 
Erskine itinerates with other brethren in a variety of districts — 
Striking incidents relative to a meeting at Braidcraigs, near 
Edinburgh. 

The Reverend James Wardlaw departed this life, on 
the 2d of May 1742, in the twenty-fourth year of his 
ministry at Dunfermline, and in probably the sixty- 
ninth year of his age. His remains appear to have been 
interred within the walls of the church ; for his tomb- 
stone, the inscription of which seems almost illegible, 
may be seen lying near the spot, where the old pulpit 
stood. Although he and Mr. Erskine differed in opi- 
nion with regard to the Secession, and expressed their 
opposite sentiments on this point with sufficient freedom 
in the pulpit.; and although the intimate co-pastoral re- 
lation which had long subsisted betwixt them was dis- 
solved by the final sentence of Assembly in the year 
1740, — they continued, we doubt not, to regard each 
other with feelings of mutual esteem. On occasion of 
his colleague's death and interment, Mr. Erskine, we 
are assured, did not fail to honour his memory, by bear- 
ing ample testimony to his numerous excellencies, as a 
Christian, and a Minister of the Gospel. 



246 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



Some time before his admission at Dunfermline, Mr. 
Wardlaw was happily united with Jean Morris, by 
whom he had four daughters, Christian, Jean, Isabella, 
and Mary. Christian gave her hand to the Rev, 
Samuel Charters of Inverkeithing, and was mother of 
the late Dr. Samuel Charters of = Wilton, a w ell-known 
writer of Sermons, Her daughter Margaret married 
the late celebrated Dr. Henry Hunter of Leith, and 
afterwards of London, author of Sacred Biography, and 
other works. She had also another daughter, who mar- 
ried Mr. Hardy, a respectable citizen of Leith, and fa- 
ther of the late Dr. Thomas Hardy, minister of Ash- 
kirk. — Jean Wardlaw gave her hand to Mr. Strachan, 
a writer in Edinburgh ; and Isabella was united to the 
Rev. Mr. Muir, minister first at Cumnock, afterwards 
at Paisley, author of Discourses on the Synod of Jeru- 
salem and other topics. Mary, the youngest of Mr. 
Wardlaw's daughters, died at an early age. He had a 
half-sister named Christian Wardlaw, who reached a 
great age, and died at Dunfermline a few years since. 

The Presbytery proceeded, shortly after the decease 
of Mr. Wardlaw, to adopt active measures with refer- 
ence to the parish of Dunfermline. Mr. Erskine, though 
deposed by the Assembly in May 1740, had continued, 
it appears, to officiate in Ins turn, with his colleague, in 
the Parish Church, for the two subsequent years. In 
this respect he met with greater indulgence than his 
brother Ebenezer, whom the magistrates of Stirling de- 
prived of his church the Sabbath immediately after the 
sentence of deposition was pronounced.* The General 
Assembly, however, were not a little chafed to find that, 



* Life and Diary of Eben. Erskine, p. 414. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



247 



in several instances, their orders were neglected by the 
civil authorities. At their meeting in May 1742, hav- 
ing learned that Mr. James Thomson and Mr. Ralph 
Erskine were still permitted to occupy the pulpits of the 
parish churches of Burntisland and Dunfermline, they 
" resolved to apply to the civil government for a redress 
of this grievance and contempt, and ordered that letters 
be wrote to the Secretary of State and his Majesty's 
Advocate, to the end the said sentence of deposition may 
be supported and rendered effectual, and that the vacant 
churches may be planted without delay ; and further 
appoint the Moderator to write letters to the magistrates 
of these burghs, exhorting them to give no longer coun- 
tenance to such disorders, but to perform their duty by 
debarring the deposed persons from access to officiate in 
the parish churches."* 

This renewed injunction of the Supreme Court, con- 
curred with the event of Mr. Wardiaw's death, to rouse 
the Presbytery of Dunfermline to vigorous exertion. 
The record of their meeting on the 2d June 1742, con- 
tains the following passage : — " The Presbytery, taking 
into their consideration the melancholy state of the 
parish of Dunfermline, did, after some reasoning, agree 
to supply the vacancy occasioned by the deposition of 
Mr. Ralph Erskine, as well as the vacancy occasioned 
by the death of the Rev. James Wardlaw, and did 
and hereby do appoint the Moderator, [the Rev. Mr. 
Hardy,] to preach at Dunfermline next Lord's day. 
both forenoon and afternoon' 9 The Rev. Mr. Steed- 
man of Beath dissented from this deed of Presbytery, 
so far as it regarded Mr. Erskine, and protested for 



* Struchers' Hist, of Scotland. Vol. ii. Pp. 57, 58. 



248 



LIFE AND DIARY Of 



liberty to give in his reasons of dissent ; while two elders 
begged it to be marked that they could not concur in the 
sentence. 

The following extracts, from memoranda written by 
one of Mr. Erskine's hearers, seems to refer, notwith- 
standing the apparent inaccuracy of the date, to occur- 
rences that happened in June 1742, when Mr. Hardy 
attempted to fulfil the presbyterial appointment which 
has just been noticed. It is, at any rate, too curious and 
interesting to be suppressed : — 

" Dunfermline, May 11, 1740. This day Mr. Er- 
skine's turn was to preach in the tent forenoon, and know- 
ing he was to meet with opposition in essaying to preach 
in the old-kirk in the afternoon, he gave suitable exhor- 
tations to the congregation how to behave, whatever 
should fall out, it being the Lord's day ; and also inti- 
mated that he was to be with his brother Ebenezer at the 
sacrament in Stirling next Lord's day, Mr. White, pro- 
bationer, to preach for him here that day : — That the 
congregation should wait in the church-yard till they saw 
if he got entrance ; if not, to return to the other place of 
worship. Accordingly this afternoon, Mr. Hardy, mi- 
nister in Culross, being appointed to take possession of 
Mr. Erskine's pulpit, whose diet it was this Sabbath, the 
established party came a little after the second bell, and 
caused lock the porch door, as the ministers always 
entered the east door. Mr. Erskine's congregation were 
mostly without, in the church-yard. The east door was 
guarded by David Black of Hill, Bailie Chalmers, Bailie 
John Walker, and others, to keep out Mr. Erskine. 
But when he came through the church-yard with Mr. 
Brisson, many following, as they came near the east 
kirk door, Mr. Brisson cried out, make icay for your 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



249 



minister. Upon this, some rushed in ; others, that were 
within, soon turned back the gentlemen door-keepers ; 
neither could they get the door shut, so that when Mr. 
Erskine came forward, none of his opposers had power 
or courage to make the least resistance against him; his 
presence struck a terror in them. The way to the pul- 
pit was lined on every side, so that Mr. Erskine had a 
full and free entry to it. During all this time, Mr. Hardy 
was in the session-house trembling, for he would not 
mount the pulpit till he saw that Mr. Erskine was kept 
out of the kirk, and when the small scuffle was at the 
kirk door, he called to lock the session door, and when 
the kirk was composed and the psalms singing, he v ent 
forth with his gentlemen door-keepers to Bailie John 
Walker's house. 

" Dunfermline, May, 18, 1740. This day, Mr. Er- 
skine assisting at a sacrament in Stirling, and Mr. White 
being to preach the forenoon in the kirk — But Mr. 
Geddies, the other minister in Culross, and Mr. George 
Adie, took early possession of the pulpit, and when Mr. 
White came to the kirk, the pulpit was filled, and he re- 
fused entrance. So he and our congregation returned 
to our own place of worship." 

" This week," adds the writer, " Mr. Hugh Forbes 
came to Dunfermline, and visited Mr. Erskine ; and 
speaking of our affairs, desired Mr. Erskine to make no 
more attempts to force himself into the established kirk 
of Dunfermline ; for he wished him well, and if he did, 
the consequences might not be comfortable, as it bor- 
dered upon rebellion. So we never afterwards at- 
tempted it."* 



3IS. by Inglis. 



250 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



Without question, it was only after May 1742, that 
Mr. Erskine entirely ceased to occupy the parish church. 

To obtain able and popular clergymen to fill the pul- 
pit of that church after his ejection, was deemed pecu- 
liarly necessary. One of the first to whom, in this 
juncture, the friends of the establishment turned their 
eyes, was Dr. Hugh Kennedy, minister sometime of 
Cavers, in the Presbytery of Jedburgh, and afterwards 
of the Scotish Church Rotterdam, a man deservedly 
held in high estimation " for piety, popularity, prudence, 
and learning." About the beginning of Autumn 1742, a 
most harmonious call to Dunfermline was given to that 
eminent clergyman ; and both the magistrates and the 
Presbytery wrote him letters, earnestly urging him to 
comply with the call. After mature deliberation, how- 
ever, he determined to remain at Rotterdam, where he 
continued to labour with distinguished fidelity and suc- 
cess till the day of his death, Nov. 3, 1764.* After 
several other abortive attempts, the Presbytery at last 
succeeded in supplying both vacancies at Dunfermline. 
On the 5th May 1743, the Rev. James Thomson was 
admitted successor to Mr. Erskine in the first charge ; 
and on the 19th April 1744, the Rev. Thomas Fernie 
was ordained minister in the second charge. Mr. Thom- 
son is said to have been a native of the parish of Carn- 
bee, Fifeshire, and previously to his settlement at Dun- 
fermline, he had been employed fourteen years in the 
army as minister to the Cameronian, or twenty-sixth 
regiment of foot. He died Oct. 19, 1790, in the 92d year 

* Steven's Hist, of the Scottish Church of Rotterdam, Pp. 
186, 187, 196. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



251 



of liis age, and the 47th of his ministry at Dunfermline. 
Such was the vigour he possessed in extreme old age. 
that in his ninetieth year he administered the Lord's 
Supper, and preached on that occasion a sermon of two 
hours length. Mr. Fernie lived till April 5, 1788, and 
was succeeded by his son Mr. John Fernie in February 
1789. Mr. Thomson and Mr. Fernie, senior, were 
colleagues for nearly forty-four years.* 

It was not without emotions of deep concern that Mr, 
Erskine witnessed those proceedings, by which it was 
attempted to supersede his own ministry ; and he con- 
sidered it his duty to give repeated admonitions to the 
inhabitants of the parish both from the pulpit and the 
press, against deserting their pastor without sufficient 
cause. Regardless of the unfavourable interpretations 
that some might put on them, he emitted in particular 
three solemn warnings, which were read to his congre- 
gation at three different times, and subsequently pub- 
lished. The first is entitled a " Ministerial Testimony, 
Warning and Declaration, by the Rev. Ralph Erskine, 
with relation to the invasion attempted upon his pulpit 
and ministry by Mr. Henry Hardy, minister in Culross, 
by appointment of the Presbytery of Dunfermline, 
Sabbath, June 6, 1742." The second was issued on 
the 22d August 1742, a few days after he had learned 
that the Presbytery, in concurrence with some of the 
parishioners, had taken steps towards the calling of a 
minister to occupy his charge in the congregation of 
Dunfermline, " as if that place were lawfully voided, or 

* Account of Parish of Dunfermline, by the Rev. Allan 3 lac- 
lean and John Fernie, Statistical Acc. of Scotland, vol. xiii. No. 
29. 



252 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



by divine allowance vacant." The third Warning was 
read by him on Sabbath. May 1. 1743. when intima- 
tion was made, in the parish church, of the intended ad- 
mission of one to be minister in his place, on the follow- 
ing Thursday.* 

It may not be improper to produce a few specimens 
of these Pastoral Admonitions, which, in common with 
souie other compositions bearing this designation, sent 
forth by ecclesiastical courts as well as individuals, were 
no doubt prepared under the influence of considerable 
excitement. — In the first of them, the author expresses 
himself as follows : — 

u I do give my testimony, in the name and authority 
of our Lord Jesus Christ, against this deed of the Pres- 
bytery of Dunfermline ; and this I do for the following 
grounds and reasons. 1st. Because this deed of the said 
Presbytery of Dunfermline, carries in it an approbation 
of the unjust and sinful sentence of the foresaid Assem- 
bly against these eight ministers, and me among the rest. 
2dly. Because this deed is an evident robbing of this con- 
gregation of their present lawful pastor, and an intrud- 
ing of ministers upon them without then consent, and 
without their being lawfully called or convened, to in- 
quire if they wanted two ministers in the place." " I 
know not of seven or eight persons among all the seven 
or eight thousand examinable people, of this congrega- 
tion, but seem to be still satisfied to subject themselves 
to my ministry in peace.*' " 3dly, Because this deed car- 
ries in it a strong attempt to involve this congregation 
in the sinful breach of a solemn engagement betwixt 
them and me before the great God/' Here, after 

* See Mr. R. Erskine's Works, vol. ii. p. 2iC, note. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



253 



pointing out the nature of the mutual covenant entered 
into by a minister and his people on the day of his set- 
tlement, he adds, " Heritors, elders, magistrates, town- 
counsellors, and heads of families, did all concur in the 
above solemn engagement, in their Call given to me 
about one and thirty years ago. And though I am very 
conscious to myself of much sinful weakness, and many 
failures in the discharge of my pastoral duty, yet I can 
appeal to the consciences of the people of this congre- 
gation, that I have, according to the measure of ability 
and grace given me, endeavoured to discharge the du- 
ties of my office among them, particularly by preaching 
the unsearchable riches of Christ unto them ; and I have 
some satisfying hope and persuasion that I want not 
some seals of my ministerial work, and of my call to the 
same, among the people of this congregation." In con- 
clusion, he solemnly admonishes the people to take heed 
that they give no manner of countenance to those that 
were obtruding themselves on his charge, and at the 
same time manifests the christian spirit of forgiveness in 
these words; " Though this warning should through ig- 
norance be disregarded by some, or through wickedness 
be despised by others, yet I incline to follow the ex- 
ample of our glorious Master, who said, i Father, for- 
give them, for they know not what they do.' Even so 
I desire to pray, 6 Lord, forgive them, and lay not 
their iniquity to their charge, nor to the charge of this 
congregation." 

In his second " "Warning," while he expresses his re- 
gret at the proceedings of the Presbytery of Dunferm- 
line against him, he feelingly alludes to his brethren of 
that Presbytery at the time of his ordination, who 
Si looked indeed like a reforming Presbytery, and were 



254 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



all now in the dust? He again refers to the sacred ties 
by which a Christian pastor and his people are united. 
" The longer the relation has subsisted, the more aggra- 
vated will then sin be that endeavour the dissolving of 
it ; since the longer it has stood, the more firm and nu- 
merous are the bonds by which it has been established." 
" And as to my not preaching now/' he adds, " in the 
other ordinary place, you know that it is owing to my 
being excluded by violence such as I could not resist, 
unless I had designed by carnal weapons to fight my 
way to it ; which, you will own, were neither suitable to 
my character and profession, nor adapted to your edifi- 
cation." Among other expressions in which he boldly 
states his views of the guilt contracted by those who 
causelessly turned their back on his ministry, he says : 
" Those that have a hand in calling another minister to 
tins congregation in my room, are exposmg themselves 
to that wrath of God that is threatened in his word 
against such as are guilty of mi-using the messengers of 
God, 2 Chron. xxxvi. 16. " Though they could get 
one that shall preach to them as an angel of light, this 
iniquity is, and will be marked before the Lord." 4 < I 
reckon my being persecuted in my office and ministerial 
work more gross and heinous than any outward or cor- 
poreal persecution, and what tends to bring on the 
greatest wrath." " They not only reject then own law- 
ful pastor without any ground, but reject him at the last 
and most noted period of his life, when, in holy provi- 
dence, he is become more than a minister to them 
as formerly, a public witness for the persecuted truth 
and cause of Christ." " Indeed, if the people of this 
place had contrived a way to get rid of my ministry 
twenty years ago, their guilt had not been so aggravated 



THE REV. RALPH ERS KLINE. 



255 



as now. when a testimony is put in my hand, wherein 
the glory of God, and the credit of his name and truth, 
is so much concerned." i; Upon all these accounts," 
gays he at the close, " I see it my present duty, to warn 
the people of this place to consider what they are doing 
in this matter, as they have any regard to the glory of 
God, the credit of the gospel, the salvation of their own 
souls, their peace in a dying hour, and the great account 
they are to give before God's tribunal of what improve- 
ment they make of the gospel ministry he has sent to 
them." 

Let these extracts suffice. Though to a calm and dis- 
passionate judge, some of the expressions employed in 
these solemn warnings may appear unreasonably strong, 
no candid person wHl ascribe them to a sinister motive, 
and unquestionably they demanded the serious attention 
of those to whom they were addressed. 

Mr. Erskine's withdrawment from the national Church 
was succeeded by increased exertions in his Master's 
work. Though not now possessing the advantage of a 
colleague in the ministry, he performed the accustomed 
services of the Sabbath, kept up the week day sermon, and 
continued with exemplary vigour to prosecute the pri- 
vate duties of the ministry amongst his numerous flock. 
His ready disposition to exert himself to the uttermost 
in their behalf is declared in the following sentences, 
quoted from an address to his people we have found 
among his papers, intended to obviate the excuses that 
some might make for relinquishing his ministry. 

" As to the greatness of my charge, I own that ever 
since I came to Dunfermline, it has still been greater 
than my ability ; and though I had the foresight of that 



258 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



before I engaged in it, yet the old Presbytery of Dun* 
fermline, that are now all in the dust, encouraged me to 
adventure on it with this argument, that the Lord's call 
being clear, he would never call me to more work 
among the people here than he gave me furniture and 
ability for." " Though my strength should be decaying 
even when my charge is increasing, yet I could have no 
freedom before God, to cast out any from being under 
my charge, that are not guilty of casting themselves out 
from it, nor freedom to reject those that are coming in 
to it upon the same public reformation cause we espouse, 
while others are going out from it, and so betraying that 
cause." " However weighty my charge be, and un- 
proportionable to my strength and ability, yet I desire 
to bear it as the Lord enables, and to go on in my 
work, according to the assistance he gives, and even to 
spend and be spent therein." 

How interesting and extensive soever the field of la- 
bour at home requiring his attention, he did not decline 
at proper times to go abroad. In rendering assistance 
to his brethren of the Secession in the customary servi- 
ces accompanying the administration of the Lord's Sup- 
per, he appears to have displayed uncommon activity, 
and found peculiar enjoyment. The following extracts 
from his Diary, though unavoidably not extending be- 
yond the year 1739, will serve to justify this conclu- 
sion. 

" Saturday, June 4, 1737. I set apart the forenoon 
with the family for prayer ; and in reading Is. lxiv. I 
was affected. O may the Lord pity, recover, restore, 
return with mercy. I had at this time a view of the 
sacrament at Kinclaven, on the second Sabbath of June, 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKlNE. 



257 



Orwell on the fourth, Dunfermline on the second Sab- 
bath of July. Lord, prepare for thy work." 

" Sabbath, June 25, 1737. I preached at Perth for 
Mr. Wilson, in a tent without, forenoon ; and in the 
church within, afternoon. July 2, being Sabbath, I as- 
sisted, through grace, at the sacrament in Kinclaven. 
On the Thursday, I preached on Is. xxvi. 20. Sabbath 
I preached twice, and Monday closed on John xiv. 1. 
Many bands were upon me ; yet the Lord pitied in 
hearing Mr. Wilson on Saturday, while he preached on 
that word, 1 1 have finished the work thou gavest me to 
do/ One special mark he gave of the believer, was. 
that he loved the plan of salvation the better, that God 
in all his glorious attributes is glorified thereby. This, 
I thought I could seal in my heart. I heard Mr. Fish- 
er in his action sermon on that word, ' It is finished !' 
His proofs that the work was finished, and inferences 
therefrom were refreshing to me ; and I got some lively 
faith and hope, whereby I was quickened to look to the 
Finisher, now exalted to finish by power the work that 
he had finished by price. Both in secret and public, I 
got my heart poured out, and a mighty heart-burning 
desire and concern that the Lord would appear at this 
occasion. I found sensible influence this way in the 
Psalm then singing before I preached in the tent, also 
in prayer, and partly in preaching. I served five tables. 

" July 16, 1738, being Sabbath, I was at Abernethy 
sacrament, when I preached Saturday, Sabbath, and 
Tuesday, and served eight tables, being greatly assisted, 
especially at the last. My text at this occasion was 
Heb. iv. 3. 6 We that have believed do enter into 



258 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



" Sabbath Aug. 6, 1738. I was present at the sacra- 
ment in Orwell, where a vast multitude were gathered, 
and upwards of five thousand persons did communicate. 
I preached Saturday and Sabbath on Rom. iv. 18. 
4 Who against hope believed in hope/ Ministers were 
helped, and many were refreshed." 

" Sabbath Oct 15, 1738. I was present at the sacra- 
ment in Perth, where I preached on Saturday, and twice 
on Sabbath, upon John iv. 10. Tuesday being a fast, I 
was desired to conclude, and did so by prayer ; and be- 
fore it I spoke a little on Micah vi. 8, — 6 to walk humbly 
with thy God?' I was helped and strengthened, and 
many were refreshed." 

" Saturday, Jlay 12, 1739. I went to Abernethy 
sacrament, and there preached that day on that word, 
{ But Christ liveth in me,' as also twice on the Sabbath 
day, and was helped, particularly Sabbath forenoon at 
the tent in the church yard. I found much of the Lord's 
presence strengthening me in preaching there after I had 
served three tables, and in the evening preached again 
at another tent." 

" Saturday^ July 14, 1739. Being at Stirling sacra- 
ment. I was called to preach Saturday. Sabbath, and 
Monday ; preached all the time on these words. ' Who 
loved me, and gave himself for me.' The solemn action 
in one of the churches there fell to me, and the other to 
my brother Ebenezer. I was helped on the Saturday, 
and much more on the Sabbath, and most of all on the 
Monday. Having expected to preach neither on Satur- 
day nor Monday, yet I was strengthened inwardly, and 
also in serving tables, whereof I served at least twelve, 
partly in the one church, and partly in the other. On 
the Monday, both in preaching and praying I found 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



2.39 



more than ordinary assistance and hearty concern for 
winning souls to Christ. The work was great, and few 
hands. There were two places of worship on the Satur- 
day, four places on the Sabbath, and three places on the 
Monday : and. there were but seven ministers and three 
probationers, my brother and Messrs. Wilson. Moncrieffi 
Thomson, Fisher and myself, with Messrs. James Mair. 
Hunter, and Young, probationers. The work was very 
decently gone about, and the Lord was present with the 
ministers." 

; < Saturday. July 28, 1739. This evening I had a 
public exercise before the sacrament in Kinclaven. and 
preached on Gal. ii. 20. On Sabbath I communicated 
at a table served by my brother, and was quickened 
there by hearing that Christ was alive, and that all the 
words of promise on which he has caused us to hope 
were more upon his heart than ours. This was a mean 
of quickening, and when I went alone, my heart was 
poured out by the outpouring of the Spirit of Christ 
upon me. I was strengthened in preaching at the tent 
upon the love of Christ being a giving love, and 
strengthened in serving seven tables, especially the two 
last except one ; at which two the communicants and 
hearers seemed to be greatly moved, for there was some 
remarkable breathing. I expected not to preach next 
day, but it was, in providence, put upon me." 

" Jlonclay. July 30. This morning being obliged, I 
studied, and preached; though unprepared. I was helped 
in studying and preaching. I found my heart indeed 
to trust in Jesus, and cast the work upon him ; and ac- 
cordingly found him taking the burden of the work 
from off my heart, and then sustaining and strengthen- 
ing in public praying and preaching, as remarkably as 



280 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



eve?\ if not more than ever before. I preached from the 
foresaid text on Christ as a lover and a giver. I preach- 
ed from a heart, as it were, full of Christ, and of desire 
to win souls unto him. The Lord was with me in the 
closet, and with me in the tent. O wonder of mercy to 
such a wretch as I am ! I was made to rest on his word, 
his name, his righteousness, his strength. I preached 
before my brother Ebenezer, and many went away with 
the conviction that God was in the place." 

In the various efforts employed by the 'Associate Pres- 
bytery to promote the cause of religion in Scotland, and 
to afford relief to thousands groaning under the yoke of 
patronage, the subject of this narrative was fully prepar- 
ed to bear a part. Even before his accession, as has 
been stated, he often attended their meetings for confer- 
ence, prayer and fasting ; and after having taken that 
step, he cheerfully concurred with them in those acts of 
jurisdiction, to which, after considerable delays, and so- 
lemn consultation, they at last proceeded. It gave him 
peculiar pleasure, as appears from several notices in his 
Diary, to take part in licensing and ordaining } T oung 
men, possessed of good principles, and of respectable ta- 
lents and acquirements. 

" Tuesday, June 28, 1737. After the sacrament in 
Orwell, we kept a public fast, and each of us (except 
Mr. Wilson, who was unwell,) prefaced, [that is, made 
remarks on the Psalm that was given out to sing,] and 
prayed, and was helped. It was with reference to the 
view we had of keeping fast days elsewhere, and send- 
ing forth labourers at this juncture, when the cry of op- 
pression by reason of obtrusion was coming from all 
parts of the land." 



THE "REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



261 



"Dec. 15. After this the Presbytery met at Kinross, 
when two students were entered on trials, and some fast- 
days were appointed." 

« May 16, 1738. This day I went to Abbotshall, 
where the Associate Presb} r tery met on Wednesday the 
17th. I heard Mr, Hunter preach his popular ser- 
mon, and was refreshed therewith." Mr. Hunter, as 
appears from the records of Presbytery, received license 
to preach the gospel at Orwell, June 7, 1738.* 

After noticing the administration of the Lord's Sup- 
per at Stirling, July 15, 1739, Mr. Erskine continues 
thus : 

" We kept Presbytery on the Tuesday and Wednes- 
day. Mr. James Mair and Mr. Beugo made accession 
to the Presbytery, and some young men were nomi- 
nated, and marked in the minutes for being entered on 
trial, namely, Messrs. Gibb, Hutton, Smyton, and Aber- 
crombie." 

" Tuesday, August 28, 1739. I preached at Orwell 
in the afternoon, it being a fast-day appointed by the 
Presbytery. The Lord helped and strengthened in this 
work. And on Wednesday, Aug. 29, we held a Pres- 
bytery — appointed the time of ordaining Mr. Hunter at 
Morebattle, and entered three young men on trials for 
the ministry." 

« Oct 14, 1739. Having on the Thursday before 
gone to Edinburgh, and thence on the Friday with Mr. 
Fisher to Dryburgh, Shielfield house ; and on the Sa- 
turday having visited Mr. Gabriel Wilson, we came to 
Stitchell, and on the Sabbath preached to a numerous 

* The statement in the Life of Eben. Erskine, p. 422, that 
Mr. Hunter was licensed at Abernethy on May 12th, is incor- 
rect. 

M 



262 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



auditory on that word, 4 To you is the word of this 
salvation sent/ Tuesday, Oct. 16, we went to Gates- 
hall and Morebattle, where, on Wednesday, Oct 17, I 
preached a sermon, at the ordination of Mr. Hunter, on 
Luke xiv. 23, 6 Compel them to come in, that my house 
may be filled. 5 I was helped, the people were affected, 
and the Lord followed his word with power. There- 
after we ordained Mi\ Hunter. Thursday, Oct 18, 
I came to Causton, which was about thirty miles riding, 
Friday, I preached there in the morning and in the 
evening/ 5 

Mr. John Hunter, whose ordination is here referred 
to, was a voting minister of great promise. Owing chiefly 
to the defection of the times, and the opposition given by 
the dominant clergy to candidates for the ministry pro- 
fessing evangelical sentiments, he lived in retirement for 
several years after he had finished his theological studies. 
Soon after the commencement of the Secession, however, 
he embraced the opportunity then presented of appearing 
in a public character. Having obtained the cordial re- 
commendation of the Rev. Gabriel Wilson, he was very 
favourably received by the Associate Presbytery.* 
He was their first licentiate, and his settlement at More- 
battle was <• the first of the kind that had taken place 
among them/ 5 Mr. Erskine presided both in licensing 
and in ordaining him. During his itinerary labours as 
a probationer, which continued about a year and a-half, 
he everywhere experienced the most cordial reception, 
and when he became pastor of the united societies of 
Morebattle and Stitchell, he had fair prospects of use- 
fulness amongst an affectionate people But how un- 



* Life of Eben. Erskine, p. 422. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKI?:E. 



263 



searchable are the ways of Provdence S It pleased God 
to remove him to eternity on the 7th of January 1740, 
somewhat less than three months after his ordination, 
leaving a widow and fatherless children to lament his 
loss. His death was sincerely regretted, not only by 
the people of his charge, but by his brethren in the 
ministry, and all that knew him. In compliance with 
the earnest request of the hearers, Mr. Erskine pub- 
lished the sermon he preached on the occasion of his 
settlement ; and the publication not having taken place 
till after his death, he subjoined an appendix, consisting 
of counsels and consolatory suggestions, addressed to 
the bereaved congregation, and well adapted to direct 
them in improving that mournful event.* He adverts 
to the adorable sovereignty and unerring wisdom of the 
Most High, who gives and takes away according to his 
will. He pathetically exhorts them to consider and to 
profit by the salutary lessons, which the departure of 
their beloved minister was calculated to impress on 
their minds ; to keep in memory the precious truths 
they had heard from his Hps ; to place their trust in the 
great and immortal Shepherd ; to cultivate preparation 
for their own death ; and to copy the many excellen- 
cies that were united in the character of the deceased. 
His meekness and humility, his signally blameless de- 
portment, concern for the welfare of immortal souls, 
readiness to suffer reproach and contempt for Christ's 
sake, and the ardent zeal he had discovered for the 
cause of the Redeemer, both in a private and a public 
station, are particularly mentioned. His eminently 
holy life terminated, it appears, in a triumphant death. 



SeeR. Erskine's Works, vol. ii Pp. 101—118. 



264 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



Many striking expressions of joyful hope proceeded 
from his mouth. " I have had many adversaries/' said 
he, " both within and without to wrestle against ; but 
now my head is lifted up above all mine enemies ; and 
I would not change my lot for the heaviest crown of 
gold." 

The following epitaph, composed by Mr. Erskine, 
was inscribed on his tomb : — 

Ipse Petrits, quamvis hominum Piscator, obivit ; 
Horum hie Venator^ quxn properanter ? obit. 
This mighty Hunter, well employed. 

Betwixt the distant poles, 
His mortal body soon destroyed, 
To save immortal souls.* 

The premature death of this valuable minister seems 
to have been, in reality, occasioned, under Providence, 
by his own immoderate exertions. Animated by love 
to the Saviour and by compassion for the multitudes in 
various districts of the land that were thirsting for the 
word of life, he laboured far more incessantly than was 
compatible with a prudent regard to his health. It is 
even stated, that he sometimes preached above thirty 
sermons within the space of fourteen days. 

His friends admired him for his learning, judgment, 
and eloquence, but above all for his fervent piety and 
unquenchable zeal. In warm commendations of Christ, 
and in the use of " similes and metaphors, tending to 
convey the truth with pleasure and evidence into the 
hearts of the hearers/'* he was thought by many to bear 
a closer resemblance than any preacher they had heard 



* Works, vol, ii. p. 788. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



265 



of to the celebrated Samuel Rutherford, His powerful 
discourses were calculated to impress the minds of every 
class of his audience. Many years since, the late Dr. 
Robertson, Principal of the University of Edinburgh, 
related the following anecdote to a clergyman still alive. 
When he was about sixteen years of age he made a 
visit to his uncle, minister of the parish of Ghford, 
where, learning that Mr. Hunter was to preach in the 
neighbourhood, and that a vast crowd were assembling 
to hear him, curiosity prompted him to join the multi- 
tude. " The preacher," added the reverend Principal, 
4i addressed his audience in a strain of natural and power- 
ful eloquence, and a strong impression was produced. 
I myself was deeply affected as well as those around me, 
and such was the effect, that I recollected more of that 
sermon than of any I have ever heard." A specimen 
of the evangelical and lively discourses of this popular 
preacher was given to the world shortly after his de- 
cease, but it is now rarely to be seen. 

Mr. Hunter was not the only minister of the Seces- 
sion, at whose settlement Mr. Erskine's services were 
required. At Mr. Fisher's admission to the Associate 
congregation of Shuttle Street, Glasgow, October 8, 
1741, he succeeded his brother Ebenezer, who presided on 
that occasion, by preaching a sermon on Acts vii. 34, 
which may be seen among his published works. When 
the Rev. James Johnston was ordained at Dundee, 
April 16, 1746, Mr. Moncrieff of Abernethy took 
the lead in the solemn act of ordination, and Mr. Ralph 
Erskine concluded the services with a sermon on 2d 
Cor. v. 18. 19. We find too, that at the ordination of 
the Rev. John Swanston at Kinross, on Thursday, 



266 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



June 23, 1748, he presided and preached from John 
xx. 21. Mr. Swanston proved a bright ornament to 
the Secession church. To eminent piety, he added 
profound theological knowledge, popular talents, and 
singular prudence. The Rev. James Fisher having 
been obliged, by bodily infirmity, to resign the office 
of Professor of Divinity, the Associate Synod, at their 
meeting in May 1764, appointed Mr. Swanston to suc- 
ceed hirn in that important charge ;* but after sustaining 
it for a short period, with much credit and utility, he 
died, suddenly, at Perth, universally regretted, on Fri- 
day June 12, 1767. His decease was occasioned by an 
illness with which he was seized on the evening of the 
Sabbath preceding, immediately after delivering a ser- 
mon, subsequently to the celebration of the Lord's 
Supper in that town. A volume of his discourses, rich 
in the " grace and truth" of the gospel, has been long 
in the hands of the Christian public ; and the fragrance 
of his memory has also been heightened by the exem- 
plary piety and spirituality, and uncommonly amiable 
temper of his son, Mr. Andrew Swanston, whose Ser- 
mons and Lectures, introduced by a short Memoir, 
written by the late Rev. David Greig of Lochgelly, 
discover great ability, and breathe a most evangelical 
and heavenly spirit. 

The subject of this narrative preached frequently in 
the presence of his brethren, at their meetings in a ju- 
dicative capacity. On the 15th February, 1738, he 
was chosen moderator of the Associate Presbytery, 



* Records of Associate Synod* 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



267 



His fervent prayers for the members of that court, as 
well as his discourses before them, are noticed by him- 
self in his Diary : — 

" Saturday, May 13, 1738. — I got grace to flee to the 
fountain of blood shed at Jerusalem, and sought to know 
the value and virtue of that blood, and to be washen 
therein, and to have the promised Spirit ; and particu- 
larly to seek the Lord would be with me the next day, 
when to preach alone. Having a view of the subject, 
namely, 2 Cor. v. 21, about Christ being made sin for 
us, and we the righteousness of God in him, I got 
grace to seek that the revelation of this righteousness 
might be the power of God to the salvation of poor souls 
in this place ; also to look for the outpouring of the 
Spirit to continue, because a crucified Jesus is now 
made both Lord and Christ. Afterwards, this same 
afternoon, going again to God by prayer, I was enabled 
to wrestle mightily for his coming in power by the gos- 
pel, and for the outpouring of the Spirit to bear witness 
to Christ, and glorify him. Here I was led to cry, with 
many tears, that the Spirit might be poured out upon 
his servants with whom I am associated, and put hand 
to his own work ; particularly to cry that the Spirit 
might be sent as a glorifier of Christ, that he being glori- 
fied, the Father might be glorified in him. Amen, Amen." 

" December, 1738. — The Associate Presbytery met 
at Stirling, where I preached before a great multitude, 
on 1 Pet. v. 6, 6 Humble yourselves under the mighty 
hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.' " 

"Aug* 27, 1739. — I studied a sermon upon Ezek. xvi. 
ult.* which on Tuesday the 28th I preached at Orwell, 

* This sermon was published in his Works, Vol. II. p. 81, 
et seq. 



268 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



in the afternoon, being a fast -day appointed by the Pres- 
bytery. The Lord helped and strengthened in this 
work." 

" Sabbath, Nov. 4, 1739 — The sacrament being at 
Abbotshall, I preached on the Sabbath, and on Monday, 
and before the Presbytery on Wednesday. At the 
sacrament, preached on Micah v. 5, 6 This man shall be 

the peace' ; and after the tables, very late, or rather 

early in the morning ; and then without on the Mon- 
day. I communicated at a table served by Mr. Wilson. 
That Wednesday, being a fast-day appointed by the 
Synod of Fife, I went not home, but stayed with the 
Presbytery, and because of the multitude of people pre- 
sent, preached before two of the young men upon trials. 
Though I had studied little, I preached on that word. 
Zech. viii. 19, 6 Love the truth and peace/" 

" Tuesday y Nov, 27, 1739. — I preached before my 
brother on Jerem. xiv. 7, ' O Lord, though our iniqui- 
ties testify against us, do thou it for thy name's sake/ 
It was very early this day before I went to bed, having 
studied till after four in the morning. This day I was 
helped and strengthened in speaking " 

After the Associate Presbytery was formed into a 
Synod, consisting of three Presbyteries.* Mr. Erskine 

* The three Presbyteries of which the Associate Synod origi- 
ginally consisted, were designated the Associate Presbytery of 
Edinburgh, the Associate Presbytery of Glasgow, and the Asso- 
ciate Presbytery of Dunfermline. The last of these included 
the following congregations and ministers : — 
Congregations. Ministers. 
Dunfermline, Mr. Ralph Erskine. 

Dunnichen, — - Andrew Arrot. 

Burntisland., James Thomsoiu 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



269 



officiated as moderator at its first meeting at Stirling in 
March 1745, and consequently, in accordance with 
custom, he preached before them at the opening of the 
second meeting of Synod at the same place, the Sep- 
tember following. One of his note-books contains a 
long discourse on Ephes. iv. 8, with this memorandum 
prefixed, " Designed for the Synod at Stirling, Sep. 24, 
1745." 

At no period of public ministration, however, were 
his feelings, in all probability, more deeply solemnized, 
than when he preached before his brethren on the occa- 
sion of their uniting in the work of public covenanting, 
which appeared to them a proper and seasonable means 
of promoting reformation.* Waiving all inquiry into 
the nature and expediency of this exercise, let it only 
be remarked in passing, that if the ministers of the 
Secession of that age, did in any degree too highly 
admire the covenants of their Presbyterian ancestors, 
or attach undue importance to explicit public vowing 
as a scriptural means of reviving the power of godliness, 
they only shared those prepossessions, and that zeal with 
the generality of the pious clergymen who chose to 

Congregations. Ministers, 
Abernethy, Mr. Alexander MoncrielF. 

Orwell, Thomas Mair. 

Ceres, William Campbell, 

Perth, George Brown. 

Leslie, John Erskine. 

The following congregations, then vacant, also belonged to 
the Presbytery of Dunfermline, viz. Kirkaldy, Kinkell, Muck- 
hart, Kinclaven, Dundee, Montrose, with some in the counties 
of Boss, Murray and Buchan. See Gibb's Display of the Se- 
cession Testimony, Vol. ii. p. 14. 
* Compare the Life of Ebenezer Erskine, Pp. 432 — 437* 



270 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



retain their connexion with the national church. The 
Rev. Mr. Willison of Dundee and his associates, in their 
" Fair and Impartial Testimony," refer repeatedly to 
the " defection by covenant-breaking, and dealing de- 
ceitfully with God," as constituting a large proportion 
of the national guilt, and express ardent wishes to see a 
universal disposition amongst the people of Scotland 
to renew the solemn covenants. After particularising 
a variety of measures, conducive to the advancement 
of religion, they recommend " looking earnestly to the 
Lord for his Spirit's influence and special blessing upon 
all those means and endeavours, until at length the whole 
land arrive at the happy frame and disposition of our 
forefathers, when they, with one consent, renewed co- 
venant with God, and dedicated themselves and their 
posterity unto the Lord."* 

An entry in the Diary, dated August 29, 1739, con- 
tains the following sentence : — " We held a Presbytery, 
at which we agreed, that the national covenant should 
be renewed with accommodation to our time." No- 
thing further on the subject occurs in that portion of 
the manuscript which is in our hands. We find, how- 
ever, that on the evening of the 28th Dec. 1743, being 
the day on which the covenants were renewed at Stir- 
ling, he preached from Deut. xxvi. 17, 18, a very seri- 
ous and interesting sermon, entitled " Covenanting 
Grace for Covenanting Work." On that occasion, 
which was the first of the kind in the Secession Church, 
none but the ministers were invited to swear and subscribe 
the bond.f The generality of private Christians of that 

* Pp. 122, 123. 

•f Records of the Associate Presbytery* 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



271 



persuasion, however, were expected, in course of time, 
to come under similar engagements. 

The following account of a renovation of the cove- 
nants by the Associate congregation of Dunfermline, 
which took place a few years after, under the eye and 
superintendence of their minister, is quoted from the 
old records of session there : — 

" Dunfermline, May 28, 1746. — After prayer by the 
moderator Mr. Erskine, sederunt all the members of 
session. This day being set apart for humiliation and 
solemn covenanting, the session adjourned till the said 
solemn work was over, and went into the church con- 
stituted. Mr. Ralph Erskine preached from Zech. xiii. 
9, last part, [They shall say the Lord is my God.] Mr. 
Henry Erskine succeeded in prayer, and in assisting 
his father ; read the Solemn League and Covenant, 
and solemn acknowledgment of sins prefixed to the 
bond. Mr. Ralph Erskine read the bond, and after 
reading thereof, Mr. Ebenezer Erskine made an ac- 
knowledgment in prayer of the sins prefixed to the said 
bond. And thereafter the list of the people, whose 
names and designations are here inserted, who were 
judicially admitted by the session to swear and sub- 
scribe the bond, was publicly read.* — Mr. Thomson of 
Burntisland concluded the forenoon work with prayer 
and praise. Mr. Henry Erskine preached in the after- 
noon from Psalm xlviii. 8, — c he will be our guide even 
unto death,' " 

" May 29, 1746 — This day being set apart for those 

* About six pages folio are occupied by the names and desig- 
nations of subscribers, each page containing nearly fifty names. 
The names of thirty members of session appear at the head of the 
list. 



272 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



who had entered into the bond yesterday, their sub* 
scribing the same this day, Mr. Thomson preached 
from Col. i. 11, i Strengthened with all might, accord-* 
ing to his glorious power, unto all patience and long 
suffering with joy fulness.' All that could write sub- 
scribed their names ; and at their desire the clerk sub- 
scribed for those who could not write. Mr. Ralph 
Erskine concluded the forenoon's work with prayer and 
praise. Mr. Ebenezer Erskine succeeded in the after- 
noon, and preached from Heb. iv. 14. Sermon being 
ended, the whole work was concluded with prayer and 
praise." 

A note-book of Mr. James Erskine, one of Ralph's 
sons, then a student in divinity, contains all the ser- 
mons preached by the different ministers employed du- 
ring this solemn transaction ; which he seems to have 
written in the public assembly at the time of their de- 
livery. 

To advance no less the general interests of piety 
than their own cause as a distinct religious community, 
the Associate Presbytery adopted the measure of 
sending forth individuals of their number, generally 
" two and two," to preach the gospel in various dis- 
tricts of the land. It was mostly in consequence of 
express application from people groaning under the in- 
tolerable yoke of patronage and its accompanying evils, 
that those deputations were sent ; and when they were 
solicited to hold public fasts with them, or to form con- 
gregations and ordain elders, they usually complied 
with such requests. In these home missionary exer- 
tions, the subject of this memoir sustained his own share 
of labour ; and notwithstanding the toil attending them, 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



273 



and the difficulties and obloquy encountered in some 
quarters, he seems to have gone through them with 
considerable pleasure and success. In tours of this 
description, he accompanied his brother Ebenezer to 
Cambusnethan, Denny, and Balfron ; Mr. Wilson of 
Perth to Braid's Craigs, near Edinburgh ; Mr. Mair of 
Orwell to a village near West Linton ; Mr. Fisher to 
Annandale, and Mr. Thomson to Evandale. His works, 
accordingly, contain sermons preached on " present 
duty before approaching danger," at Cambusnethan, 
Aug. 3, 1737 ; on " the great ruin and the great re- 
lief," at Braid's Craigs, May 22, 1738 ; on "glad tidings 
in sad times," in Annandale, Aug. 27, 1738; and on 
" chambers of safety in times of danger," in Evandale, 
Sept. 19, 1739.* 

The following brief notices, by his own pen, of some 
of these preaching excursions, will not, at least to mem- 
bers of the Secession church, seem void of interest. 

" Dunfermline, July 12, 1737. We had a presby- 
tery in the church, where a multitude were present, 
We were appointed, by two, to go and keep a day of 
fasting among oppressed people. My brother and I 
were appointed for Cambusnethan the first Wednesday 
of August coming, and the rest to other places." 

" Monday. Aug. 1, 1737. This morning, in secret 
and in family worship, I was helped to pour out my 
heart to a promising God, looking that, for his name's 
sake, he would be with me. This day I was to go off 
for Linlithgow, in order to meet with Ebenezer, on our 
way to Cambusnethan. JVednesday, Aug. 3, I preach- 
ed in the tent with my brother at Cambusnethan, where 



* See R. Erskine's Yf orks, vol. ii. Pp. 11, 21, 51, 87- 



274 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



was a very great auditory. I had the forenoon, and af- 
ter reading the causes of the fast, prefacing and pray- 
ing, I preached on Jer. xiii. 16, ' Give glory to the 
Lord your God, before he cause darkness ;' afterwards 
baptized about twenty-six children. We were very 
kindly entertained by the people in that place, and they 
seemed to be refreshed with the fast day's work, the 
Lord helping in some measure therein. "We kept a 
session next day with the elders. Friday, Aug. 5, At 
Linlithgow, on my way home, I preached that evening 
in the church to a great many people, the minister of 
the place being present." 

" Monday, Sept. 26, 1737. I went to Stirling; next 
day with my brother to Balfron ; where, Wednesday 
28, we kept a fast. I preached upon Ps. lxxix. 8, 6 O 
remember not against us former iniquities.' The night 
before, and this morning, my heart was poured out in 
prayer, looking to a promising God, and wrestling with 
him." 

" Wednesday, March 22, 1738. Being appointed 
with Mr. Wilson and Mr. Mair, by the Associate Pres- 
bytery, to observe a fast at Edinburgh, we accordingly 
went, and after them, I preached on Hos. xiii. 9, ' O 
Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself ; but in me is thine 
help/ The day was very windy, and many of the un- 
godly rabble surrounded the meeting. Yet the Lord 
helped, and many were refreshed. And TJtursday, 
March 23, I went with Mr. Mair to Linton. Friday, 
March 24, I preached there ; and then we proceeded 
to the electing of elders, who were chosen by the lifting 
up of the hand, and then examined ; and their edict 
served on Sabbath. Sabbath, JIarch 26, I preached 
with Mr. Mair. We had a great and grave auditory. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSK1NE. 



275 



I continued here to preach on Hos. xiii. 9. Many, I 
heard, were much refreshed. Monday March 27, In 
returning to Edinburgh I preached and baptized at 
Carlips ; was also helped there. Wednesday morning 
the 29th, I preached and baptized at a house in the 
Park of Edinburgh ; the house belonged to Mr. Wilson 
the smith. Also the same day, exercised with my sis- 
ter B alder st on in the evening." 

" Monday, May 8, 1J38. This morning, in family 
worship, I was helped, and my heart strengthened in 
prayer. I designed this day [to set off] for Stirling: 
Lord, guide. It was recommended to me by the Asso- 
ciate brethren to go and assist at a fast in St. Ninians. 
Accordingly I went Monday night to Stirling, and 
preached there on Tuesday, and then upon Wednesday, 
May 10, preached at a meeting very numerous, in the 

parish of St. Ninians. * Mr. Nairn began this day, 

and my brother closed the work." 

" Monday, Aug. 21, 1738. I went to the Ferry, to 
meet with Mr. Fisher, in order to our going to the 
south, to observe a fast-day on Friday, and to preach 
on the Sabbath among Mr. Hepburn's people, and other 
societies there, that had made accession to us. f And 
this we did by virtue of the appointment of the Asso- 
ciate Presbytery. Tuesday, Aug. 22, we rode nearly 
thirty miles, and on Wednesday nearly as much, to the 
place where we were to have the fast. Friday, Aug, 
25, Mr. Fisher preached, and I succeeded on that word, 
' when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin.' 
Six or seven ministers heard us, with whom we con- 



* Compare p. 215. 

-f- See Appendix^ No. IX. 



276 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



versed afterwards ; and Mr. Fisher sustained a debate 
with them to great advantage. Saturday, we went 
eight miles further, to a place called Horwood, on the 
Water of Milk? 

" Sabbath, Aug. 27. This morning I got some lively 
acting of faith upon the word, 6 Lo I am with you ;' 
and I was helped in the day's work, especially at the 
close. I lectured forenoon, on 1 Cor. ii. 6, &c. preach- 
ed afternoon on Ps, xlvi. 4, 6 There is a river, the 
streams whereof make glad the city of our God.' In- 
fluences were given ; many of the people heard with 
greedy looks and weeping eyes, as if it were the first 
and the last offer of Christ and salvation they were then 
getting, and as if the word were going through heart 
and flesh. Some evidence there was then of the Lord's 
presence ; and at the evening prayer, in a barn full of 
people, the place was a Bochim. Man} r , I heard, went 
away, saying they never saw such a day. May the 
Lord follow the work with remarkable fruit. In our re- 
turn, we preached at Linton on Wednesday and bap- 
tized ; and on Thursday night I came home to Dun- 
fermline." 

" Sabbath, April 15, 1739. Last month, when the 
Associate Presbytery sat, I w r as appointed to assist at a 
fast near Glasgow next week, and then to preach at 
Kihnaurs the Sabbath following, and then at a fast in 
another place. May the Lord go with me, and assist, 
and bless." 

« Tuesday, April 24, 1739. I went away with Mr. 
Thomson for our journey, by appointment of the Pres- 
bytery, and was present at Logie, where some of the 
brethren kept a fast. Wednesday, April 25, we went, 
(namely, he, and Ebenezer, and I,) towards Glasgow ; 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



277 



and, Thursday the 26th being a fast-day, within two 
miles of Glasgow, there were two tents erected for us, 
when I preached forenoon and afternoon, and was help- 
ed especially afternoon, upon that word, 6 If we, or an 
angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you 
than that which we have preached unto you, let him be 
accursed.' That night we went into Glasgow. Friday, 
April 27, Mr. Thomson and I went to Etherly, a gen- 
tleman's place, where we preached also and baptized. 
I spoke on Christ being a treasure, and was helped. 
Some, I heard, were touched. Saturday, April 28, 
we came to Kilmaurs, and Sabbath, April 29, two tents 
were erected, at which we separately preached the 
whole day. I lectured on Paul's reproving Peter, Gal. 
ii. and preached upon that word, 6 Ye shall be my sons 
and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty, 2 Cor. vi. 18. 
I lectured that evening also. Monday, we went to Kil- 
marnock, where I preached in the evening to people 
that stood without doors. Tuesday, May 1, we went 
for Dairy, through Irvine and Kilwinning, and came to 
the place, where next day we were to keep a fast. I 
preached that night to the people that came. Wednes- 
day, May 2, was a very rainy day. We preached to a 
very numerous auditory. Thursday, we came from 
Dairy, through Paisley, and by Glasgow to Hamilton 
along Both well Bridge. Friday, May 4, we came to 
the Kirk of Shots, and preached and baptized there ; 
and that night came to a place called the Knock, having 
come through Bathgate. The day before, I preached 
at the Shots on, 6 A man shall be a hiding place from 
the wind ;' and this day on Gal. i. 3, 4. I was helped 
and strengthened, and this evening we came home." 
i6 Tuesday, Sept, 4, 1739. I preached with my bro- 



278 



LIFE AND DIA.RY OF 



ther at Denny on a fast occasion, upon Ephes. v. 14, 
6 Awake, thou that sleepest, arise from the dead, and 
Christ shall give thee light P " 

" Monday, Sept 10, 1739. I went to Burntisland. 
September 11, being a very stormy day, Mr. Thomson 
and I went over to Leith, and thence to Caiiips in Lin- 
ton. Wednesday the 12th, Mr. Thomson preached at 
Linton and baptized. This afternoon we went to Sym- 
ington, where next day we were appointed to have a 
fast. Thursday the 13th, we kept the fast in Syming- 
ton. I preached after Mr. Thomson. Friday the 14th, 
we went to the parish of Cambusnethan, and next day 
to a place therein called Davie's Dykes, where we stayed 
all Saturday night and Sabbath night. Sabbath, Sept 
16, we preached in Cambusnethan parish ; my text was, 
6 Unto you is the word of this salvation sent.' The 
auditory was considerably numerous, from a great many 
places. I was helped and strengthened. Monday the 
16th, we went to Evandale. Tuesday the 17th we held 
session there. Wednesday the 18th we held a fast ap- 
pointed by the Presbytery, and I preached on that word, 
6 Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers,' &c. In 
all these places I was helped, and the people seemed to be 
greedy hearers. May the Lord follow with his power- 
ful blessing ! JVednesday evening, we came to Strath- 
aven, which is a town and chief place in the said parish, 
and stayed all night. Thursday, we came through 
Hamilton, Shots, and Avon, to the parish of Whitburn, 
and stayed all night with Mr. Beugo in Cowhill. Fri- 
day, I took occasion to see Mr. Wardrope, and Mr. 
Bonar, and then came to Linlithgow, thence that even- 
ing to the Queensferry. Saturday, we came home, 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



279 



through the mercy of God, the preserver of man and 
beast." 

In the libel executed against the ministers of the As- 
sociate Presbytery by order of the General Assembly 
1738, one of the articles related to the crime of preach- 
ing beyond the limits of their own parishes, and several 
of the above instances are specified. The meeting at 
Braid's Craigs, for example, is thus referred to : — 
6 Moreover, you the above-mentioned defenders, one or 
other of you, did upon the 22d day of March last, or 
upon one or other of the days of the said month, con- 
vene with great numbers of your followers at Braid's 
Craigs, within the said parish of the West Kirk of Edin- 
burgh, and then and there you did preach and baptize 
several children, without proper certificates from the 
ministers of the said parish, or the authority of the pres- 
bytery of the bounds." * 

Mr. Erskine alludes, in his Diary, as we have seen, to 
" the ungodly rabble that surrounded the meeting" at 
Braid's Craigs. A few of that " rabble," we are in- 
formed, more daring than the rest, made several auda- 
cious but fruitless attempts to molest the worshippers. 
Some of these " rude fellows of the baser sort," amused 
themselves by rushing amongst the people and setting 
up a Merry Andrew; but a well-disposed youth 
promptly stept forward, and threw it down. A man, 

named D R , steward to H n of C n, 

had also the hardihood to set fire to some whins in the 
immediate neighbourhood of the spot where the nume- 
rous audience were assembled, concluding, from the di- 
rection and force of the wind, that the smoke proceed- 



* Re-exhibition of the Testimony, p. 191. 



280 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



ing from the burning whins would exceedingly annoy 
the seceders. It so happened, however, in the good 
providence of God, that the wind immediately veered 
about to another quarter, and the assembly suffered no 
inconvenience. The impious project, in the meantime, 
attracted the notice of the ministers as well as the people; 
and Mr. Erskine publicly remarked, that the person who 
had been guilty of that deed would perhaps live to re- 
pent of it. That same individual, it is credibly related, 
was afterwards three times driven from his own dwell- 
ing by means of fire. First one house he occupied on 
Clerkington estate was burned down and then another ; 
on which his master dismissed him, saying, that man 
would burn all the houses on his property. He remov- 
ed, in consequence, to Prestonpans, where a similar ca- 
lamity befel him, the truth of which is attested by a 
woman ninety years old, who was very lately, if she be 
not even still, alive in Edinburgh, and who affirms that, 
when a child, she made a very narrow escape from the 
flames of that house, being let down from a window in 
a blanket. The events of Providence ought not to be 
interpreted with presumptuous boldness and temerity. 
But instances of daring impiety are sometimes succeed- 
ed by visible strokes, bearing such distinct signatures of 
just retribution, as compel even the thoughtless and the 
sceptical to exclaim, " Verily there is a God that judg- 
eth in the earth." 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



281 



CHAPTER VII. 

The Ministers of the Secession attract the notice of good men in 
other countries — Letter from the Rev. Mr. Muirhead of Ame- 
rica — Correspondence of Mr. John Wesley Mr. Seward, and 
chiefly Mr. Whitefield with Mr. Ralph Erskine — Mr. White- 
field'' s singular interview with Mr. Erskine and the Associate 
Presbytery at Dunfermline — Facts of the conference collected 
from various documents by the different parties — Remarks. 

The ministers of the Associate Presbytery, owing to 
the bold and decided part they had taken in the work 
of religious reformation, and the sacrifices they had 
made in its behalf, soon became the objects of general 
attention. Their fame was not confined to Scotland. 
It was speedily diffused, at least, through other por- 
tions of the British empire, at home and abroad ; and 
while their conduct met the keen reprobation of some, 
it obtained the warm approval of others. Many excel- 
lent persons in England and America sympathised with 
them in their generous struggles in the cause of truth, 
liberty, and piety; and in particular, several fellow 
labourers in the gospel, residing at a distance, beheld 
them with cordial esteem, and were desirous to culti- 
vate their acquaintance by an epistolary correspond- 
ence. 

One instance of this marked regard is noted by Mr. 
Erskine in his Diary. 

" Saturday, August 12, 1738. — At this time we of 



282 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



the Associate Presbytery had a letter from Mr. Gilbert 
Tennant, minister in New Brunswick, in the province 
of Pennsylvania, in the Synod of Philadelphia in Ame- 
rica, dated June 20, 1738, in the name of his brethren 
of the same Presbytery, signifying their hearty appro- 
bation of our reasons for not joining the judicatories ; 
representing their difficulties, and desiring our sym- 
pathy and counsel, and correspondence with us. The 
letter was engrossed in our minutes, and an answer 
ordered to be written to them, together with all our 
publications, which they desire."* 

Another friendly communication from America was 
addressed to Mr. Erskine by the Rev. John Muir- 
head, imparting " good news from a far country." 
This letter contains a cheering detail of the prosperity 
of religion in his own congregation, and of the extra- 
ordinary success which crowned the labours of Mr. 
Whitefield and other zealous preachers in the new 
world ; and, at the same time, expresses the delight 
with which he heard of the activity and courage dis- 
covered by the Associate brethren in the cause of Christ, 

* A minute of the Associate Presbytery, dated " Orwell Manse, 
Aug. 6, 1738," contains the following passage : — " Mr. Eben. 
Erskine produced a letter, directed to hirn, to be communicated 
to the brethren of this Presbytery, dated New Brunswick, June 
23, and signed by Gilbert Tennant, minister in that place, and 
one of the members of New Brunswick Presbytery, within the 
bounds of the Synod of Philadelphia, the tenor whereof follows," 
— But, alas ! the promised " tenor" is not to be seen. Tt is only 
added, " After reading of the above letter, they appoint Mr. 
Eben. Erskine to write a return to the said letter in the name 
of the Presbytery." 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



283 



and the value that was put on the writings of the 
Erskines by himself and others. Part of this epistle 
runs as follows :* — 

" Go on, blessed champions in the cause of God. 
Your trials are not greater than those of Zinzendorf, 
Whitefield, Tennant, and the poor unworthy instru- 
ment that is now writing to you. We must have 
thorns, lest we be exalted above measure. All that 
would live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecu- 
tion. The more of this, if submitted to with a gospel 
meekness, our crown, though sullied here by rebels to 
God and their own good, will shine the brighter through 
eternity. 

« I shall now give you a genuine account of our reli- 
gious concerns, that, I am well persuaded, will cause 
your soul, and the souls of my dear fathers and brethren 
with you of the same frame, to sing for joy, and hearti- 
ly join with me in repeated songs of praise and thanks- 
giving to the blessed Lamb of God, who seems to have 
begun his millennium at this time in America. Rejoice, 
O my soul, I say, rejoice greatly, at the relating of the 
blessed history of my dear Lord's kingdom in America. 
Mr. Whitefield, that man of God, came into this great 
town last September, where he preached incessantly 
with surprising flame and success for two months. Con- 
solation and thunder, with the utmost plainness and free- 
dom, were intermixed in all his discourses, both to mi- 
nisters and people, so that numbers were made to cry 

* This extract is taken, not from the original, which we have 
not seen, but from a copy in short-hand characters, transcribed 
probably by Henry Erskine, eldest son to Ralph. The date, 
with several sentences at the beginning, is wanting. 



284 



LIFE AND DIAEY OF 



out, 6 What shall we do to be saved ?' Thus, while the 
iron might be said to be hot, that Boanerges, Mr. 
Gilbert Tennant, came, and in a severe season, namely, 
last winter, laboured with still greater success among 
us, in and nigh this town, for near the space* of four 
months. Many hundreds of souls came under great 
distress, insomuch that all God's faithful ministers here 
found blessed work, and abundance of it. Lectures 
are set up and continued almost every day in the week, 
with a great increase of souls savingly brought home to 
God. God's blessed Spirit is poured out on some of 
all ages, sexes and complexions. God has perfected 
praise from the mouths of many hundreds of children. 
Here also many poor Ethiopians are made to stretch 
forth their hands to God, and say, Blessed is he that 
cometh in the name of the Lord to save us. In my 
little congregation, a hundred and seventy-eight souls 
have applied to me, either to relate what God had 
done for them, or to ask direction how to manage under 
soul trouble. One thing I would notice, the work of 
Christ has been greater since these men of God have 
gone hence. But they brought the sacred fire along 
with them, and now it is kindled into a divine flame. 
God has made many townships and ministers light with 
tapers at our torches, namely, Roxbury, Brookline, 
Cambridge, Charlestown, Ipswich, Newbury, Rhodes 
Island, with many more towns through almost all the 
provinces of English America. I do not know that I 
ever have read or seen any thing like this blessed time 
since the Apostle's days. Indeed, the fulfilling of the 
Scriptures mentions some things like it. The devil is 
sowing some tares among the wheat. 

u Be earnest, dear shepherds of Christ's flock, that 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



285 



God may accompany your labours with power., and that 
the glorious work of conversion may revive among you. 
Let your dear people know what God is doing here. 
I can never enough magnify God, that he brought me 
hither to receive and do good. Lord, let me never 
forget the happy day that I came to America. I want 
words to express what God has done for me and my 
people. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all 
his benefits. Good Lord, carry a live-coal with these 
lines, and fire thy dear servants, until they see the 
mountains covered with horsemen and chariots of fire, 
and souls flocking to Christ. My honoured fathers and 
brethren, pardon this zeal and freedom. My soul is 
engaged for you, and all the real lovers of my Lord, 
who are carrying on reformation in his kingdom. O let 
me say, the absolute necessity of Christ's doctrines 
preached to the reformation of the hearts and lives of 
men is apparent, while the government and discipline 
of the church is to be considered as subordinate to 
these. 

" Pray for me, a poor frail creature. My soul has 
been often refreshed with the savoury performances of 
you and your dear brother's. They are much admired 
here. The Gospel Sonnets have been lately reprinted 
with great acceptance here. Pray fail not in writing, 
and be more particular. I should be glad to have one 
copy of your's and brother's sermons that have been 
published. Be so good as to remember my sincere 
duty and love to my fathers and brethren with you, 
with whom I shall rejoice to correspond. I can easily 
transmit your letter to the Presbytery at New Bruns- 
wick. May the eternal God encompass you and yours 

N 



286 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



as with a shield, and bring you as refined gold out of 
all your fiery trials. This from 

" Your dutiful son, and humble servant, 

" John Muirhead." 

The brotherly correspondence that subsisted for a 
time betwixt the celebrated George Whitefield and 
the members of the Associate Presbytery, has attracted 
so much notice in the religious world, and been referred 
to by so many writers, influenced by various views and 
prepossessions, that a careful attempt to place it in a 
just light requires no apology. If the following detail 
shall be found correct and impartial, and calculated to 
throw an unmerited share of odium on neither of the 
reputable parties concerned, there will be no cause to 
regret the labour it has cost. 

An epistolary intercourse had taken place between 
Mr. Whitefield and some of the Associate brethren up- 
wards of two years before an opportunity of personal 
conference occurred. The merit of opening this cor- 
respondence seems to be due to Mr. Vnfitefield, and 
his coadjutors Messrs. John Wesley and William 
Seward. That the motives in which it originated, 
were, on both sides, pure and honourable, reason and 
charity alike oblige us to conclude. A deep interest in 
the cause of vital religion was the animating principle 
which appeared equally to sway the hearts of our Eng- 
lish and Scotch Reformers of that age ; and the general 
similarity of their circumstances and objects, notwith- 
standing varieties on some subordinate points, naturally 
inclined them to encourage each other by mutual com- 
munications, and even to contemplate some kind of 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



287 



union and co-operation. The letters they exchanged 
with one another, breathe only the spirit of piety and 
love, and are still fitted to refresh and edify the reader. 

That Ralph Erskine was actuated in this matter by 
unfeigned Christian affection, and aimed at something 
nobler than the advancement of a party, cannot justly 
be disputed. It will gratify the pious inquirer, to see 
the following extracts from his private memoranda; 
being the whole of the notices on this subject to be 
found in that portion of his Diary, which terminates in 
December 1739 : — 

"April 17, 1739. — I received a letter this month 
from Mr. Wliitefield, dated Bristol, March 10, 1738-9. 
showing the great outpouring of the Spirit in England 
and Wales, and his utility in bringing home many souls 
to Christ ; as also his hearing of our success in Scotland, 
and desiring to have a line from me. I did not sud- 
denly answer this line, till I heard more about him, 
which I did both in public prints, and by letters from 
London — having written for an account of him." 

" Saturday, August 4, 1739. — This afternoon the 
Spirit of grace and supplications was in a great mea- 
sure granted, and I was helped to wrestle in prayer for 
the Lord's blessing to my family, and for his blessing 
upon Whitefield and his brethren, from whom I have 
got another letter, namely, from him and Mr, Seward, 
I was made to pray for them, and for the work of God 
among their hands, and to bless the Lord for what, he 
had done to them and by them. Also I was helped to 
cry mightily for the Lord's presence next day, and that 
he would give a word for the Sabbath, and powerfully 
concur to the good of souls. I was also made to pray 
for the coming of the kingdom of Christ, both abroad 



288 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



and at home, and for Christ's exerting his command- 
ing power in commanding the blessing to many souls 
in this place. Lord hear. 75 

" Sabbath, Sep. 30, 1739.— This morning, after 
reading part of Ps. xviii., about the Lord's girding 
with strength, and his word being a tried word, I got 
my heart poured out in prayer for his presence, his 
countenance, his assistance ; and got a new hold of his 
name and covenant of promise in Christ. Also prayer 
for Whitefield, Seward, and Wesley." 

" Oct. 6, 1739 — Kept the forenoon with my family ; 
read Ezek. xvi. and in the last prayer, after confession 
of sin, was moved by some new motion of the Spirit, 
After I was alone, my heart was humbled in the dust 
before the Lord, and thereafter had my faith and hope 
revived, and was made to look again to God's holy 
temple ; to acknowledge, that while the Spirit was 
poured out in England, the Lord was just in suffering 
our fleece to remain dry, and yet to look for his coming, 
according to his word. My heart was humbled and 
melted down like water. Glory to him who can make 
the flint to melt. I remembered Whitefield and his 
brethren. Lord be with them, and let thy kingdom 
come abroad and at home." 

The same excellent spirit he breathes in his Diary, 
is expressed in his letters. It seems proper to produce 
here a series of communications that passed betwixt 
him and his English correspondents, few of which have 
hitherto met the eye of the public. 

He alludes, we have seen above, to a letter received 
from Mr. Seward at the close of summer 1739. This 
worthy gentleman, Mr. Charles Seward of Evesham, 
ascribed his conversion to the instrumentality of White- 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



289 



field. Evangelical truth made a powerful impression 
on his mind ; and he discovered the sincerity of his 
faith, as well by vigorous exertions to promote the im- 
mortal interests of mankind, as by uncommon liberality 
in supplying their temporal wants. It pleased an un- 
searchable providence, however, in the month of Octo- 
ber 1740, to give this amiable and useful convert a 
speedy release from the labours and sorrows of time. 
His journal was published after his death.* Mr. Erskine 
had the happiness to receive from him the following 
pious and affectionate letter. 

« London, July 24, 1739. 
" Reverend and Dear Sir, 

" I humbly beg leave to 
open a correspondence with you, though I am very 
unworthy of that honour. I have been a very weak 
fellow-labourer with dear Mr. Whitefield, since his ar- 
rival from Georgia. I had lived near twenty years in 
the midst of a polluted world, and I need not explain 
to you how different my pursuits are now. But I must 
ever adore the free unmerited, Almighty grace of God, 
who has snatched me and my brother Benjamin out of 
the fire. What distinguishing love must the Almighty 
have to us. when thousands of polite learned gentle- 
men have been passed by, and God has displayed his 
Divine Power in us, in doing that which with man, it 
was impossible to be done. I am persuaded, dear Sir. 
when we come to compare experiences in eternity, we 
shall find most of them tally and answer as face answers 
to face in the water. 

God seems to have visited his people, and is working 



* Sonthey's Life of Wesley, vol. i. Pp. 239, 243, 384, 



290 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



wonders in this nation. O may the light of his glorious 
gospel shine to the east and to the west, to the north and to 
the south. Pray for me. dear Sir, that I may be able to 
finish the building I have begun, that though I am nothing 
but poverty, yet I may daily draw such supplies from the 
fulness of Christ as may bear me up unto the end. I 
have already run the gauntlet through my old acquain- 
tances, which I could not have done of myself ; but I 
have more and greater trials yet to go through. You 
have, doubtless, given up your life to your master. Our 
brother Whitefield lately bore his testimony on a public 
stage against re veilings, cudgelling, and other such 
evils, on which occasion we have certain information 
that twelve men lay in wait for his life, but were, by 
the special providence of God, disappointed. If God 
will thus honour his servants, as he did St. Paul se- 
venteen hundred years ago, what shall we say ? 6 Even 
so, Father, for so it seemeth good in thy sight ? ? Indeed 
I am but a babe, a child in grace. O pray for me, 
that I may daily grow up unto the perfect man, unto 
the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. 

Your's in Christ, 

William Seward. 

From the manner in which Mr. Erskine, in the 
above extracts from his Diary, introduces the name of 
the Rev. John Wesley, it is manifest that, at the first, 
he entertained favourable sentiments no less of his or- 
thodoxy than of his zeal. That eminent man, it is 
well known, subsequently opposed with great vehe- 
mence, the entire freeness and adorable sovereignty 
of Divine Grace ; by which procedure, while it created 
an open rupture betwixt him and Mr, Whitefield, he 



THE REV. RALPH ERSK1NE. 



291 



forfeited much of that high esteem in which he had 
been previously held by other decided friends to the 
Calvinistic system. The following letter, however, ad- 
dressed to him, ere the writer was aware of his leaning 
to Arminian principles, contains such statements re- 
specting the way in which many hearers, both in Eng- 
land and Scotland, were affected under the preaching of 
the word, and also regarding his views on some points 
of Christian experience, that it would be wrong to deny 
it a place in this memoir. 

Letter. — Mr. Ralph Erskine to the Rev. John Wesley. 

" Reverend and Dear Sir, 

" I desire to bless the Lord 
for the good and great news your letter bears, about the 
Lord's turning many souls from darkness to light, and 
from the power of Satan unto God, and that such a 
great and effectual door is opened among you as the 
many adversaries cannot shut. May he that hath the 
keys of the house of David, that openeth and no man 
shutteth, and shutteth and no man openeth, set the door 
of faith more and more open among you, till his house 
be filled, and till he gather together the outcasts of 
Israel ; and may that prayer for adversaries be heard, 
4 fill their faces with shame, that they may seek thy 
name, O Lord. 3 As to the outward manner you speak 
of, wherein most of these were affected, who were cut 
to the heart by the sword of the Spirit, no wonder than 
they were at first surprising to you, since they are in- 
deed so very rare that have been thus wounded ; yet 
some of the instances you give, seem to be exemplified 
in the outward manner, wherein Paul and the jailor 



292 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



were at first affected, as also Peter's hearers, Acts nr. 
The last instance you give of some struggling as in the 
agonies of death, this is to me somewhat more inexpli- 
cable, if it do not resemble the child spoken of, Mark 
ix. 26, and Luke ix. 42, of whom it is said, that when 
he was yet a coming, the devil threw him down and 
tore him. I make no question Satan, so far as he gets 
power, may exert himself on such occasions, partly to 
mar and hinder the beginning of the good work, in the 
persons that are touched with the sharp arrows of con- 
viction, the enemy being unwilling to quit his old pos- 
sessions, and partly also to prevent the success of the 
Gospel on others ; while he seeks thus to disparage the 
work of God, and bring it under contempt and reproach, 
as if it tended to lead people only to madness and dis- 
traction ; and a holy sovereign God may permit it, for 
trying the faith and constancy of his own children, whom 
he has called effectually. However, the merciful issue 
of these conflicts, in the conversion of these persons thus 
affected, is the main thing, when they are brought, by 
the saving arm of God, to receive Jesus Christ, to have 
joy and peace in believing, and then to walk in him, and 
give evidence that the work is a saving work at length, 
whether more quickly or gradually accomplished. 

" There is great matter of praise, as to the work of 
God among us, an account whereof you seem to deside- 
rate. Though we cannot deny but we sensibly feel now 
and then, some remarkable breathings of the Spirit of 
God, in praying and preaching, and frequently hearing 
of savoury impressions made by the word upon the 
hearts of people, and of some good fruits following ; and 
though, any instances of his powerful presence this way, 
at this juncture, seem to relate more to the carrying on 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



293 



of the good work when begun, than to the remarkable 
conversion of others, yet we want not instances of his 
power and pity this way though not appearing entirely 
in such sudden and visible effects as these you mention. 
All the outward appearances of people's being affected 
among us, in time of preaching, and especially at sacra- 
mental occasions, may be reduced to these two sorts. 
One is, hearing with a close silent attention, with gravity 
and greediness, discovered by fixed looks, weeping eyes, 
joyful or sorrowful-like countenances, evidencing ten- 
derness in hearing. Another sort is, when the word is 
so affecting to the congregation, as to make them lift up 
their voice and weep aloud, some more depressedly, 
others more highly, and at times, the whole multitude 
in a flood of tears, all as it were crying out at once, till 
their voice be ready to drown out the minister's, so as 
he can scarcely be heard for the weeping noise that sur- 
rounds him. And though we judge that the most solid 
and judicious of the auditory are seldom so noisy as 
others, though perhaps more affected inwardly ; yet of 
these that are thus outwardly affected, we conceive some 
to be under a more common, and others under a special 
gracious influence of the Spirit of God, which we can 
only know by the fruits and effects that follow. The 
common influence, like a land-flood, dries up ; we hear 
of no change wrought ; the other appears afterward in 
the fruits of righteousness, and the tract of a holy con- 
versation. As to the impression the word makes upon 
those whom we take afterwards to be true converts, the 
degrees and duration of a law work, or conviction, are 
various, and the saving issue comes to be known also at 
sundry times and in divers manners. Some have been 
more quickly touched and turned to the Lord and his 



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ways, others have been many weeks, yea months, if not 
years, under much heaviness, bondage, grievous terrors, 
and horrible temptations ; some relieved very gradually, 
with a word now, and a word then, impressed upon 
them, and some outpouring of the Spirit now and then, 
and further degrees of illumination and divine teaching, 
till, by little and little, they have come to more establish- 
ment in the faith, and till they be brought off from all 
confidence, not only in their works and duties, in point 
of justification before God, but also from all confidence 
in and dependence upon their best frames, tears, en- 
largements, influences, and attainments, to a solid life of 
faith, upon the grounds that are unchangeable. 

" My dear Sir, I will enlarge on this point, in some 
hints ; under a blessing, they may be useful to you, and 
us both. A delusive spirit may sometimes lead poor 
souls to rest upon impressions, motions, and what they 
feel within them, as if these were to be the ground and 
reason of their hope, whereas the true feelings and seal- 
ing of the Spirit is the fruit and effect of faith, (< after 
ye believed ye were sealed,' Eph. i. 13;) and the true 
Spirit of God within a believer, leads him to a depen- 
dence upon Christ without him, in the word of grace 
and promise, and not upon a Christ within him, nor 
upon any created or communicated graces, gifts, expe- 
riences, tears, sorrows, joys, frowns, feeling, or what- 
ever else, is not God himself in Christ, exhibited in the 
covenant of grace. This is a mark and sign of a work 
that is divine and saving ; as saving knowledge empties 
a man of his own knowledge, making him in his own 
eyes more brutish than any man, and not having the 
understanding of a man ; so saving faith empties him of 
his own faith. Many hope to be saved ; why ? be- 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



295 



cause they trust in God ; and so it is not God, but their 
own faith and trust in him, they hope upon ; but true 
evangelical faith, of divine operation, leaves the man 
that has it nothing to lean unto but Christ, is a bare 
word, and a ' thus saith the Lord :' i It leaves him no- 
thing in all the world to hang by but the girdle of God's 
loins/ Is. xi. 5 ; the faithfulness of a promising God, a 
divine testimony. It leaves him neither righteousness 
nor strength in himself, that he may come to the pro- 
per language of faith, saying, Surely in the Lord have I 
righteousness and strength. It leaves him wretched, 
and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked, that he 
may prove only the tried gold and white raiment, and 
the eye-salve that Christ has to give him ; it leaves him 
quite destitute of and denied to all good in himself, that 
he may have nothing but what he has in Christ. Of 
such Christ says, -'Blessed are the poor: to this man 
will I look, even to him that is poor.' The man that 
feels peace, joy, and comfort, in a false way, is in the 
most dangerous condition ; because here the affections 
are so sensibly touched, and the thing looks so like unto 
true grace, that it is easier to convince one of the weak- 
ness and unsoundness of all other signs than of this. 
But God's saving work is not only a filling work, 
giving people grace and holiness, humility, the spirit of 
prayer, faith, love, joy, repentance, zeal, making all 
things new ; but also an emptying work, which is the 
great mysterious part of religion, whereby God shakes 
a man out of all his religion and righteousness, natural 
or gracious, in point of dependence, and makes all 
things nothing, that God and Christ may be all in all. 
That saving faith, that will abide the trial of death and 
judgment, can only stand upon such everlasting and 



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immutable grounds as these, the word and promise of 
God, which is everlasting. 1 Pet. i. 22 — '25. the righte- 
ousness of Christ, which is everlasting. Dan. ix. 24. 
being the righteousness of God. and of him who is 
Jehovah our righteousness, and the grace and fulness 
that is in Christ, which is also the grace and fulness 
of God. and everlasting ; not as in the stream, and com- 
municated to us, and so may soon dry up : but as it is 
in the spring and fountain, God himself in Christ, in 
whom God and all his grace and fulness ever dwells. 
To rest upon these grounds, is to rest upon the eter- 
nal God himself, the rock of ages, and to be like Mount 
Zion. that can never be moved. Such are the remains 
of corruption, even in those that are true converts ; and 
so powerful is the legal bias of their hearts, leading them 
to rest on their duties, graces, frames, feelings, and en- 
joyments, that ofttimes it may require many years'" trial 
and probation, ere they come to know themselves, and 
whether God is their only resting place. So that it is nor 
such a proper question to inquire, what they feel ? as. 
where they stand ? if it is upon a ground on which 
they shall be able to stand in judgment, and stand to 
eternity ? As. when Christ suffered, the just for the 
unjust, it was to bring us to God : so when the Spirit 
is sent, there is nothing wherein his gracious operation 
and saving power is more exerted, from time to time, 
than in bringing sinners to God, by sweeping away all 
their refuges of lies, and destroying ail their false confi- 
dences, in any thing whatsoever that is not of God. It 
is no easy matter, but a work of omnipotence, to be 
thus brought unto God ; the power of Satan is not put 
forth more in any way than by leading men to trust in 
any thing, duties, frames, feelings, or whatever else. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



297 



providing he can keep them back from such a faith in 
Christ as terminates upon God. and all the glorious at- 
tributes of God in him. according to the Gospel plan of 
divine grace, reigning through his righteousness unto 
eternal life. If Satan has power, he will never surfer a 
man to come thus to God. and to God only ; hence the 
saving efficacy of the Gospel when accompanied with 
the power of the Spirit of God, is expressed by a turn- 
ing men from darkness to light, and from the power of 
Satan unto God. Christ the Mediator is only the great 
ordinance of God, for restoring a number of lost sinners, 
and redeeming them to God bv his blood ; or the wav 
by which unholy sinners are brought back to a holy 
God, as the only centre of their rest, to which the more 
they come, the more holy they are, and to which, if they 
never come, they never have any true holiness, true re- 
ligion, or true conversion. May the Lord strengthen 
you to go on in his work, and in praying for the coming 
of his kingdom with you and us ! I hope you shall not 
be forgotten in our joint applications to the throne of 
grace. Pray let me hear, at your leisure hours, more 
and more of what the Lord is doing among you. 
" I am, Reverend and very Bear Sir, 

Your affectionate brother and servant in Christ, 

Ralph Erskine/* 

The epistolary correspondence that took place be- 
twixt Mr. Whitefield and the members of the Asso- 
ciate Presbytery, in particular Mr. Ralph Erskine, is 
peculiarly interesting, and comes now to be detailed. 
Mr. Erskine was favoured with Mr. Whitefield's first 
letter, it appears, in April 1739 ; and though he pru- 
dently deferred replying till he had made some inquiry 



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LIFE AND DIARY OF 



respecting his character and doings, the favourable ac- 
counts he soon received of that distinguished preacher 
induced him to return a kind answer ere many months 
had elapsed. Whether these first-fruits of their mutual 
esteem are still to be any where seen, we do not cer- 
tainly know. The following communications, however, 
may suffice for a specimen of the strong affection these 
two correspondents then cherished for each other. 

Letter. — Rev. G. JVhiteJield to Mr, R. Erski?ieJ* 

" Reverend and Dear Sir, u London. July 23, 1739. 

M Yesterday, with great plea- 
sure, I received your kind letter, which gave me much 
satisfaction. I was afraid lest I should have offended 
you. If this should be the case at any time, reprove 
me sharply, and I shall thank you with my whole heart. 
I bless God that my sermons are approved of by you. 
I am but a novice in the school of Christ. My Master 
enlightens me more and more every day. to know the 
exceeding great riches and freedom of his grace to all 
that shall believe on Jesus Christ whom he hath sent. 
The book you mentioned has been sent me by Mr. 
Davidson, a merchant in Edinburgh. I have not yet 
time to read it. I doubt not its usefulness, because you 
recommend it. By tins time I hope you have seen my 
last Journal, and have given thanks for what great 
things God has done for my souk An Appendix will 

* This letter to Mr. Erskine from Mr. YThitefield, the one 
above from Mr, Seward, and the long reply to Mr. "Whiterleld, 
are all transcribed from short-hand copies written by 31r. Henry 
Erskine of Falkirk. These are the only copies of them we have 
seen. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



299 



be printed shortly. The success of the Gospel increases 
yet daily. God make his people more and more will- 
ing in this day of his power. Opposition increases 
daily, but as opposition abounds, so my inward conso- 
lation abounds also. A sermon of mine is now print- 
ing, which will disturb the pleasure of preferment-lov- 
ing clergy more than ever. How can I send you some ? 
Do you know Mr. Davidson? Yesterday I sent you 
near a dozen of my last Journals by one Mr. Smith, as I 
take it, a minister of the Scots church. O that the 
blessed Jesus may breathe on them. Mr. Wesley has 
not yet received your letter. He will readily corres- 
pond with you. He fights the Lord's battles, as doth 
his brother, most courageously. A noble reformation 
is begun among the Kingston colliers near Bristol. I 
am now collecting money for building them a school- 
house ; God is pleased to bless it much. Our adver- 
saries gnash with their teeth ; < Turn them, O Lord, 
we beseech thee, for thy mercies sake.' The news of 
my death has done great service. Though I long to be 
dissolved and be with Christ, yet I believe I shall not 
die, but live and declare the works of the Lord. Father, 
thy will be done. My tenderest affections await all the 
Associate Presbytery. I am opposed for owning you, 
but to deny our Lord's disciples, in my opinion, is de- 
nying Christ himself. Though I die ivith you, yet, by 
God's help, I ivill not deny you in any tuise. Provi- 
dence detains me here. Pray write, by next post, to 
Rev. and Dear Sir, 

Your's most affectionately in the bowels of Christ, 

George Whitefield." 

This very friendly letter reached its destination at the 



300 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



same moment with Mr. Seward's, as copied above. 
We are unable to produce the reply to this excellent 
young convert, but the following answer to his spiritual 
father will command esteem for the candid and affec- 
tionate, as well as faithful spirit it displays. 

Letter,— Mr. R. Er shine, to Mr. G. White field. 

"Dunfermline. Aug. '21. 1739. 

" Reverend and very Dear Si] 1 . 

Your's. dated July :23d. 
was most acceptable ; and I would have answered it by 
the first post, as you propose, but that, as it lay about 
eight days in my house before I was at home to receive 
it. so I delayed a few days thereafter, as I was to meet 
with my brethren of the Associate Presbytery, to whom 
I communicated your line and Mr. William Seward's, 
and at the same time gave to each of them a copy of 
your last Journal as a present from you. I received 
nine of them at Burntisland, where we then were. I 
received also much about the same time, six of your last 
sermon on John vii. 37 : some of which, with some of 
the former. I also gave to the brethren. And as I re- 
turn you hearty thanks for these presents, so my breth- 
ren received them as tokens of that love and kindness 
which you express in such affectionate terms, in the 
close of your letter to me. as gave them very much plea- 
sure and satisfaction, and tended to increase and inflame 
their love more and more to you. Your being opposed 
for owning us. and your maintaining such a regard for 
us. give ground to hope and expect that you will receive 
no information about us to our disadvantage, unless or 
until you have account thereof from ourselves, since you 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKIXE. 



301 



have laid such a foundation of kindly correspondence 
with us. 

" I have some acquaintance with Mr. Davidson in 
Edinburgh, whom you mention, and was glad to hear 
he had sent you Mr. Boston's books. However, he has 
not had so much communication with us as I hear he 
has with you, since he began to sway towards the Inde- 
pendent or Congregational way, which he has for some 
time been active to promote, though otherwise, I hope, 
a good and well-disposed man. Mean time, by what- 
ever hand you please to send any print, (expecting, by 
the first occasion, to see the Appendix, if published) it 
can scarce fail to come safe, if but directed as your let- 
ters are. I have given orders to send you the prints 
relating to our public affairs in the Associate Presbytery ; 
and in case of your absence, they are to come to Mr. 
Seward or Mr. John Wesley. 

" I have now read your Journals and Sermons ; and I 
can assure you, with reference to the whole work in ge- 
neral and the main scope of it, my soul has been made to 
magnify the Lord for the very great things he has done 
for you and by you; and I rejoice to see you ascribe all 
to the free grace of God in Christ, and that he has so 
remarkably raised you up to testify against the errors 
and corruptions of the times, to rouse and awaken a se- 
cure generation, and to bring such a number of sinners 
from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan un- 
to God. If I shall speak of any particulars wherein we 
differ, it shall only be to show the greatness of my love 
to you, by the greatness of the freedom I use with you ; 
also to prevent after mistakes, and to promote unfeigned 
love, which can both cover a multitude of infirmities, 
and overlook a number of differences — not by quite 



302 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



concealing them, which might bring love under a suspi- 
cion, but by a friendly mentioning of them, which may 
prove it to be without dissimulation. 

" Though we desire to cover with the mantle of love 
all the differences betwixt you and us that flow from 
your education in the Church of England, and adore the 
merciful providence of God, who has so far enlightened 
and qualified you and your brethren to be witnesses for 
him and instruments of reformation, yet we hope the 
more this work is of God, the more will it tend to bring 
about a happy union in the Lord betwixt you and us, 
not only in a private and personal, but even in a more 
public and general way. My brethren and I, that have 
had occasion here to confer about you, see a beauty in 
the providence of your being in communion with the 
English Church. Otherwise such great confluences 
from among them had not attended your ministry, nor 
consequently received the benefit or reaped the advan- 
tage which so many of them have done. And though 
infinite wisdom has made, and may yet make this an al- 
luring bait to draw them forth, yet as England's refor- 
mation at first, (from Popery and its superstitious and 
ceremonial services,) however great and glorious, was far 
from being so full as that of some other Protestant 
churches, particularly that of Scotland; so we would 
fain hope that when a new and general reformation shall 
be set on foot, some more at least of the rags of that 
Romish church shall be dropt, such as (abstracting at 
present from the subject of church government) many 
useless rites and customs relating to worship, which have 
no Scriptural foundation. This is what some of the 
most pious and learned divines of your communion have 
wished to see reformed, knowing that many of these 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



303 



were retained at first, only under the view of reforming 
gradually and from some prudential considerations ; and 
knowing also that the continued retaining of these things, 
which the reforming fathers designed gradually to cast 
off, has been more stumbling to the friends, than ever it 
was gaining to the enemies, of the reformation. There- 
fore, though providence at present be making a good 
use of your being, according to your light, of that way, 
yet when you are beginning, as it were, to lay a new 
foundation, may the Lord in due time enable you to 
guard against such things as may afterwards prove a 
hinderance to a multitude of tender Christians their hold- 
ing communion with you, as has been the case formerly. 
Principiis obsta, is a caution most necessary in many 
cases. What the great and famous Reformer Luther, 
retained from his original Romish education proved a 
sad dividing snare among the Protestant churches ; and 
since, by the good hand of God upon you, you are so 
well occupied in dashing down bigotry and party zeal, 
I hope the hint I here give you on this head will be the 
more agreeable. The first and main business, no doubt, 
is to lay the foundation of saving faith by preaching the 
pure truths and precious doctrines of the everlasting 
gospel, which (glory to God) you are so busy about, and 
we, I hope, are joining heart and hand with you." 

" Very dear Sir, if you and your brethren, whom I 
honour and esteem in the Lord as his eminent witnesses, 
shall judge the freedom I have here used already to be 
rash or unseasonable, the least challenge of this sort from 
you shall be to me as excellent oil which shall not break 
my head ; for I think I would choose to suffer many 
miseries father than choose to offend you. But, hoping 
my freedom shall rather be taken as a mark of that kind- 



304 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



ness of which my heart is full, I proceed to tell you what 
may be reckoned exceptionable in the last journal, 
though, at the same time, the wonders of divine grace 
therein recorded were most savoury to me, and to all I 
have spoken with upon it, and will, I hope, stir up many 
to prayer and praise. Your opinion about the business 
of the attorn e} T has, I hear, been written of to you 
already ; and therefore I shall say nothing of it. The 
correction you gave to your own opinion of its unlawful- 
ness, by adding, ' at least exceedingly dangerous,' satisfied 
me. Some have thought your love and charity extend- 
ed a little too far beyond the Scripture rule in some in- 
stances, such as Journal last, page 59th, where you say 
the Quakers' notions about walking and being led by the 
Spirit, you think, are right and good : Unless they be 
Quakers of another stamp than the rest, whose danger- 
ous tenets are inconsistent with the right notion of being 
led by the Spirit, while, beside other things, they deny 
justification by the imputed righteousness of Christ, 
or his active and passive obedience received by faith to 
be the only ground of justification before God ; and 
while thus they cannot receive Jesus Christ, they conse- 
quently cannot walk in him, nor be led by his Spirit, 
who is the Spirit of truth, testifying of Christ according 
to the revelation made of him in the word, which they 
contradict. Whatever duties of love you perform to- 
wards these men, I will never believe you mean or in- 
tend to justify their principles and delusive notions. 

" There is a passage in the same book, page 83d, that 
has been improven against us and our secession from 
the judicatories ; which yet, when I read it over again, 
seems to show to me how much you are of our mind, 
and that you would take the same course, if you had 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



305 



been in the same situation. You very justly, I think, 
express your dissatisfaction with three of your brethren 
that were driven to deny Christ's visible church upon 
earth, and show that needless separation from the esta- 
blished church would no doubt be attended with ill con- 
sequences ; and you judge of the state of a church, not 
from the practice of its members, but from its primitive 
and public constitution. Hence to me it would seem 
that if even the plurality of its members meeting judi- 
cially should contradict its primitive and public consti- 
tution, you would see fit to leave them and cleave to the 
said constitution ; which is the case with us in our se- 
cession from the present judicatories of the Established 
Church of Scotland. Such seem to be the defects, it is 
true, of your ecclesiastical government in England, that 
unless in the case of a convocation, you can never boast 
of an ecclesiastical and judicial cleaving unto, nor com- 
plain of a judicial seceding from the primitive public 
constitution. But as I make no question but, in that 
case, you would find (as matters are at present stated in 
England) there would be defections of the same sort 
with you as there are with us, and consequently 
that you would see need to take the same course 
that we of the Associate Presbytery do ; so while 
you want the same advantages for seeing clearly 
when it is that defections are become national and 
judicial, and when there is an universal practical 
departure from the scriptural principles of the church 
you profess yourself to be of, it is a question how far it 
is consonant with the word of God to maintain close 
communion with those of that church who are either 
subverting its primitive public constitution, or openly 
and avowedly denying the foresaid principles. Since 



306 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



right communion is founded on union in the truth, at 
least by some open profession of it, which most of your 
clergy seem to have little of, while they excommunicate 
you and your brethren from the use of their churches ; 
however well ordered, this also is in providence for 
good, yet it discovers them to be what they are. You 
likewise add, that so long as the Articles of the Church 
of England are agreeable to Scripture, you resolve to 
preach them up, without either bigotry or party zeal. 
This I heartily approve of, and this is the case with us 
also. We preach up and defend, doctrinally and judi- 
cially, those Articles of the Church of Scotland, agreea- 
ble to the scriptures, which the judicatories are letting 
go. Hence, I conclude, you seem to be just of our 
mind, as to separation from an established church. 
We never declared a secession from the Church of 
Scotland, but on the contrary, only a secession from 
the judicatories, in their course of defection from the 
primitive and covenanted constitution, to which we 
stood also bound by our ordination engagements. And 
hence, to this day, we never did quit our charges or 
congregations, to which we were ordained by the impo- 
sition of the hands of our several respective presbyte- 
ries, nor did we ever design, unless we were obliged by 
violence or compulsion, so to do. 

" As to your Sermons, dear Sir, I am ashamed you 
should mention my approbation of them, as if it were 
of any significancy. The general strain of your doc- 
trine I love, admire, and relish with all my soul, and 
hope, through the blessing of God, it will do much ser- 
vice. And as to some particular expressions which 
I myself could not have used, my love to you, and my 
view of the countenance of heaven with you, made me 



THE REV RALPH ERSK1NE. 



307 



to put such a favourable gloss upon them as to discern 
no odds betwixt you and us. But since I am using all 
the kind freedom I can, I shall give you some in- 
stances : 

" Almost Christian, penult page. — < We shall then 
look back on our past sincere and hearty services, which 
have procured us so valuable a reward.' This I could 
by no means interpret, as if you meant it to the de- 
triment of the doctrine of hea/en's being a reward of 
grace in Christ Jesus, and not of debt to our services, 
or of eternal life its being the gift of God, through 
Jesus Christ our Lord. 

" Sermon on Justification by Christ, at the close, — - 
< Do but labour to attain that holiness, without which 
no man shall see the Lord ; and then, though your 

sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow' . 

I could by no means think that this was intended any 
way to thwart the doctrine of free remission of sins, 
by the blood and righteousness of Christ only, which is 
the subject of the preceding sermon ; or to make 
sanctification or labouring after holiness, which is the 
fruit and evidence, to be the root, ground, cause, or 
condition of forgiveness, No ; I take your view to be, 
that in this way of labouring to attain holiness, people 
would evidence to themselves and others, that they 
were pardoned persons in Christ, or that they could 
not maintain the knowledge or assurance of it but in 
this way of holiness. 

" Sermon on Philip, hi. 10, page 14. — 6 He has pass- 
ed from death to life, and shall never, if he stir up the 
gift of God that is in him, fall into condemnation/ 
This ^here I did not interpret as favouring the Armi- 
nian error against the certainty of the perseverance of 



308 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



saints that are once savingly united to Christ by 
faith of the operation of God, and passed from death to 
life ; but rather viewed it as favouring the gospel doc- 
trine concerning the connection betwixt the means and 
the end, and the necessity of the one in order to the 
other, though both are secured by promise to a believer 
in Christ. 

" I was told by one that, in some part of your works, 
you speak of justification by the act of believing ; but 
as I noticed nothing of this in the prints, so I affirmed 
that you had not so learned Christ, as to put the Armi- 
nian ro credere, or anything done by us, or wrought in 
us, in the room of Christ and his righteousness, or of his 
obedience and satisfaction, which alone, received by faith, 
I was sure, from your writings, you would own to be the 
only matter and ground of justification. 

" Again, though I could not use the English of your 
Bone Dens, because profane persons here sometimes 
swear in these terms, yet, as I know it is common 
among your writers, so I judge nothing is intended by it 
but a note of astonishment. 

" Though some of these remarks are perhaps but 
trifling, and not so material as others of them, I have 
noted all down, that I may keep nothing back from you 
that in the least occurred to my mind of any seeming 
dissonancy betwixt us in words. Yet I judged, that, 
under various ways of speaking, we meant the same 
thing, and point at the same end ; and I can say before 
the Lord, I not only approve of your sermons and jour- 
nals, but see much matter of praise to God for them. I 
see much of the glory and majesty of God, and many 
of the stately steps and goings of our mighty king Jesus 
in them, and have at times, with tears of joy, adored his 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



309 



name for what he is doing for you and by you, and I 
pray for the continuance and advancement of that work 
of God. I rejoice that the Lord's work is going on 
with you, and that days of power continue. May it 
do so till all the powers of darkness give way to it, and 
till every Dagon fall before the ark of God ! 

" Your way of arguing against the apostatizing clergy 
of your church in your last sermon, even from the in- 
stances drawn out of your service-book, may be to them, 
I think, arguments ad hominem. May the Lord bless 
for their conviction, and for awakening them out of their 
spiritual lethargy. 

6 4 When I consider how you and your brethren are 
stirred up of God to such a remarkable way of witness- 
ing for him in England against the corruptions and de- 
fections of that church, and when we of the Associate 
Presbytery have been called forth in a judicial way to 
witness against the corruptions and defections of the 
Church of Scotland, and both at a juncture, when Popish 
powers are combining together against us, and desolating 
judgments are justly threatened from heaven, — there is 
perhaps more in the womb of providence relating to 
our several situations, and successes therein, than we 
are aware of. What he doth we know not now, but 
we may know hereafter. If he be gathering his birds 
together before a storm according to the call, Zephan. 
i. 1, 2, 3, and Isaiah xxvi. 20, 21, glory to him who 
doth all things well. 

" We have lately been attending several sacramental 
solemnities in our brethren's congregations, where vast 
multitudes of people were assembled at the tents with- 
out doors, as well as in the church ; and I never found 
more of the presence of God than at some of these oc- 

o 



310 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



casions. The Spirit of God was sometimes remarkably 
poured out, and I hope the power of the Lord was pre- 
sent to heal many souls. Enemies gnash with their 
teeth, as they do with you, but the Lord carries on his 
work. My brethren salute you most affectionately * 
they love and respect you in the Lord. Now, very 
dear Sir, I have in this long letter opened my very 
heart unto you, and told you the very worst thought 
that ever entered into it concerning you ; which I could 
not have done, if it were not filled with love to you. 
And it loves you because you love Christ, and he loves 
you and honours you, and I hope he will spare and 
honour you more and more, to be a happy instrument 
in his hand for advancing his kingdom, and pulling 
down the throne of iniquity. May the weapons of 
your warfare be more and more mighty through God 
for that end. I am, Rev. and dear Sir, 

" Yours, most affectionately, in our Blessed Immanuel. 

Ralph Erskine." 

" I salute the worthy 
Sewards and Wesleys in the Lord." 

This long and open-hearted epistle afforded great 
satisfaction to Mr. Whitefield ; as appears from the 
following extract of his reply :— 

Letter.— Bev. G. Wliitefield to Mr. Ralph Erskine* 

66 Rev. and Dear Sir, " Savannah, Jan. 16, 1740. 

" With much pleasure, though 
not till last week, I received your kind affectionate 

* Copied from Letters by the Rev. G. Whitefield, vol. i. Let, 150. 



THE REV, RALPH ERSK1NE. 



311 



letter. I thank you for it with all my soul, and pray 
God to reward you for this, and all other your works of 
faith and labours of love. You may depend on my not 
being prejudiced against you or your brethren by any 
evil report. They only endear you to me more and 
more ; and were your enemies to represent you as black 
as hell. I should think you were the more glorious in 
the sight of heaven. Your sweet criticisms and re- 
marks on my journal and sermons were exceedingly 
acceptable, and very just. I assure you. dear Sir, I am 
fully convinced of the doctrine of election, free justifica- 
tion, and final perseverance. My observations on the 
Quakers were only intended for those particular per- 
sons with whom I then conversed. The tenets of the 
Quakers, in general, about justification^ I take to be 
false and unscriptural. Your adversaries need take no 
advantage against you by any thing I have written ; 
for I think it every minister's duty to declare against 
the corruptions of that church to which they belong, 
and not to look upon those as true members of their 
communion, who deny its public constitutions. This is 
your case in Scotland and ours in England. I see no 
other way for us to act at present than to go on preach- 
ing the truth as it is in Jesus ; and then, if our brethren 
cast us out, God will direct us to that course which is 
most conducive to his glory and his people's good. I 
think I have but one objection against your proceed- 
ings — your insisting only on Presbyterian government, 
exclusive of all other ways of worshipping God.— — 
Your welfare is much upon my heart ; and, as I am 
enabled. I make mention of you in my prayers. 

Your weak unworthy brother, and fellow labourer 
in Christ, George \Yhitefield," 



312 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



In a letter of nearly the same date, addressed to Mr. 
Gilbert Tennant, Mr. Whitefield, alluding to the above 
communication, says, " Since my arrival here, I have 
received a sweet endearing instructive letter from Mr. 
Ralph Erskine."* 

About two months, however, prior to the receipt of 
this " endearing" letter, Mr. Whitefield had despatched 
three letters from Philadelphia; one to the Associate 
Presbytery, a second to Ebenezer Erskine, and a third 
to Ralph. They are as follows : — f 

Letter, — Mr. Whitefield to the Ministers of the Associate 

Presbytery. 

" Wrote at Sea, dated at Philadelphia. Nov. 8, 1739. 
" My dear brethren and worthy fellow -labourers in 
Christ, 

" Though 1 know none of you in person, 
yet from the time I heard of your faith and love towards 
our dear Lord Jesus, I have been acquainted with you 
in spirit, and have constantly mentioned you in my 
prayers. The good pleasure of the Lord, I find, has 
prospered in your hands, and I pray God to increase 
you more and more, both you and your children. Scot- 
land, like England, seems to have been settled on its 
lees for some time. Our late day may properly be 
called the midnight of the church. Blessed be God, 
the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath sent 

* Letters by the Rev. G. Whitefield, vol. i. Lett. 151. 

•f For copies of the letters to the Presbytery and 31 r. Eben- 
ezer, which we could not find in the printed collection, we 
are indebted to a friend. The one addressed to 3Ir. Ralph may 
be seen entire in Whitefield's Letters, vol, i. Lett. 138. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



313 



forth many of his servants with this cry, behold the 
Bridegroom cometh. Thousands obey the call, and are 
trimming their spiritual lamps in order to go forth to 
meet him, I cannot but think a winnowing time will 
come after this ingathering of souls. You, my dear 
brethren, may be called out first to suffer for your 
Master's sake. God is my judge, I expect to follow 
after. Oh that we may suffer only as Christians, and 
then the Spirit of Christ and of glory will rest upon 
your souls. There is nothing I fear more than that 
many, out of a false zeal, will endeavour to defend them- 
selves by carnal weapons. This, I think, was the 
blemish of the Cameronians in the year 84 [1684.] 
When I read of Hackston's, of CarghTs, cruel execu- 
tion, I could not but think that as they had taken the 
sword, so they deservedly perished by the sword. 
And though God might accept their souls, yet I thought 
he justly let them receive that temporal condemnation 
which the Apostle threatens to those who resist the 
higher powers. God forbid any such spirit should be 
found amongst us. That moment it creeps in, I should 
think, God would depart from us. Whatever acts may 
be made against our preaching, I shall think it my duty, 
notwithstanding, to open my mouth with ail boldness. 
If I suffer imprisonment or death for so doing, in pa- 
tience I desire to possess my soul, and leave my cause 
to God. You, my brethren, I trust, are no otherwise 
minded, Go on then, go on in the power of the Lord 
of hosts. The eternal, everlasting God will be your 
perpetual refuge. He that employs will protect you. 
As your duty is, so shall your strength be. Let not 
our dear Lord's lambs perish for lack of pasture. Give 
ye, O give ye them to eat. Suffer not the wolves to 



314 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



devour them, but rescue them out of their devouring 
jaws. And, oh that the same zeal may be found also in 
me, your unworthy brother. But alas ! I blush almost, 
when I style myself your brother ; for I am a child, 
and all you are fathers. Oh strive together with me in 
your prayers, that the Divine strength may be still 
magnified in my weakness. Entreat the Lord to bless 
the orphan-house. I have reason to think God will 
bring mighty things to pass out of it. Oh, that I may 
be prepared for his future mercies ! Oh, that pride and 
self-love may be rooted out of my soul. Brethren, I 
beseech you by the love of God in Christ Jesus, pray 
for us. Even whilst winds and storms are blowing 
over me, you are not forgotten by him, who, though 
the most unprofitable of his Lord's servants, desires to 
subscribe himself, 

" Your affectionate brother, fellow pilgrim, and la- 
bourer in Christ Jesus, 

G. Whitefield." 

Letter. — Mr. V^Hiitefield to the Rev. Ebenezer Erskine. 

Wrote at Sea, dated at Philadelphia, Nov. 8, 1739. 
" Rev. and Dear Sir, 

" Surely we have, in some mea- 
sure, drank of one spirit ; otherwise, why is my heart 
fired, as it hath been, by reading your sermons ? Pro- 
videntially many of them were given me, though I 
know not by whom. Indeed I can say, they have been 
food unto my soul. That especially upon raising the 
tabernacle of David has been greatly blessed to me. 
Methinks affairs of Scotland and England answer to 
one another, as face answers to face in the water. Only 



THE REV RALPH ERSK1NE. 



315 



England, I believe, is by far the worst. Our gover- 
nor's dealings with me and my brethren agrees with 
the treatment you have received. But I find as yet I 
have not been so faithful as I ought to have been, in 
exposing the vices and corruptions of our church and 
age. If God gives me leave to return to England, as I 
propose in about a twelvemonth, I hope I shall then 
open my mouth boldly and speak as I ought to speak. 
For it grieves me to the heart to meditate on the deso- 
lation of God's sanctuary. Oh, dear Sir, pray that I 
may go forth in the Divine strength, and bear my testi- 
mony, though it costs me my life. What have I to do 
to consult that, when the Lord's ark is fallen into the 
hands of the uncircumcised Philistines ? Oh that I had 
the wings of a dove that I might fly to Scotland and 
catch some of your sacred fire and zeal. For your's is 
a zeal according to knowledge. God, for ever adored 
be his free grace, has given you that wisdom which 
dwells with true Christian prudence. Your advice to 
your brethren seems quite agreeable to the spirit of 
Christ, and convinces me that you are willing patiently 
to suffer for the truth's sake without taking up carnal 
weapons. I am persuaded your honoured brother and 
the rest of your associates are like-minded. The searcher 
of hearts alone knows how earnestly I pray for your 
success. May the Lord open your mouths more and 
more, and if it be his will, usher in, at least begin, a 
thorough work of reformation by your hands. With 
much fear and trembling I have wrote to the Associate 
Presbytery, Oh let them not be angry that a babe in 
Christ takes so much upon him. I love and honour 
you all for our dear Master's sake, and out of the 
abundance of my heart my pen wrote. Will you be 



316 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



pleased to deliver it ? Mr. Seward, whom perhaps you 
have heard of, and my other fellow travellers, say hearty 
amens to the petitions, which, as the Lord enables me f 
I put up for you. If it be the Divine will, I pray God 
I may see you face to face, and have some spiritual gift 
imparted to me. I have ordered some books to be 
sent over to you by Mr. Oswald, and if you would be 
pleased to let me know how I may have all your ser- 
mons, you would highly oblige, Rev. and dear Sir, 

" Your obliged friend, fellow labourer, and humble 
servant. 

G. Whitefield.'* 

" P. S. — Pray see my letter to your brother. He can 
tell you how to write." 

Letter. — Mr. WJiitefield to the Rev. Ralph Erskine* 

"Philadelphia, Nov. 28, 1739. 

" Rev. and Dear Sir, 

" The cordial and tender love 
which I bear you, will not permit me to neglect any 
opportunity of sending to you. I bless the Lord from 
my soul for raising you and several other burning and 
shining lights to appear for him in this midnight of the 
church. My heart has been much warmed during my 
voyage by reading some of your sermons, especially 
that preached before the Associate Presbytery.* I 
long more and more to hear the rise and progress of 
your proceedings, and how far you would willingly 

* Here he probably alludes to the sermon on Ezek. xvi. 63 3 in 
Mr, Erskine's Works, vol. ii. Pp. 81—87. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



317 



carry the reformation of the church of Scotland. There 
are some expressions which I suppose will be interpret- 
ed to your disadvantage, both by your domestic and 
foreign enemies. I should be glad to know who are 
those martyrs to which you refer, and of what nature 
those covenants were which you mention in your ser- 
mon. My ignorance of the constitution of the Scotch 
Church, is the cause of my writing after this manner. 
I should be obliged to you, if you would be pleased to 
recommend to me some useful books, especially such as 
open the holy sacrament ; for in God's law is my de- 
light. Boston's Four-fold State of Man 1 like exceed- 
ingly. Under God, it has been of much service to my 
soul. I believe I agree with you and him, in the essen- 
tial truths of Christianity. I bless God, his Spirit has 
convinced me of our eternal election by the Father 
through the Son, of our free justification through faith 
in his blood, of our sanetification as the consequence of 
that, and of our final perseverance and glorification as 
the result of all. These, I am persuaded, God lias 
joined together ; these neither men nor devils shall ever 
be able to put asunder. My only scruple at present is, 
* whether you approve of taking the sword in defence 
of your religious rights?' One of our English Bishops, 
I remember, when I was with him, called you Camero- 
nians. They, I think, took up arms, which I think to 
be contrary to the Spirit of Jesus Christ and his Apos- 
tles. Pray send an immediate answer, directed as 

usual, and care will be taken to have it remitted to, 
Rev. and dear Sir, 

" Your most affectionate brother, friend, and fellow- 
labourer, and obliged servant, 

G. Whitefield/' 



318 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



Although the correspondence betwixt Mr. White- 
field and Mr. Erskine was most probably maintained 
with considerable regularity, we have discovered few 
traces of letters written during the year 1740. The 
year after, however, supplies a number of epistles still 
extant. The two following letters seem fully as affec- 
tionate as any they had ever exchanged. 

Letter Mr. WJiitefield to Mr. Ralph Erskine* 

" On board the Minerva, Feb. 16, 1741. 
" Reverend and very Dear Sir, 

" I wrote you a letter 
from Bohemia in Maryland, and inclosed it in a packet. 
I should be glad to know whether you have received it 
or not. You and your brethren are dearer to me than 
ever. I love and honour you in the bowels of our 
Lord Jesus Christ. Your Sonnets and Sermons have 
been blessed to me and many. The former are re- 
printed in America. I want all your own and brother's 
works. Since I have been on board, I have been much 
helped by reading the Marrow of Modern Divinity. 
Boston on the Covenant I have just now perused ; and 
this morning have been solacing myself with your Pa- 
raphrase upon Solomon's Song. Blessed be our Lord 
for helping you in that composition. Thanks be to rich 
and sovereign grace, I have experienced much of the 
Spirit's influences in making nine Sermons, which I in- 
tend to print by subscription towards carrying on a 
Negro school, I am going to settle in Pennsylvania. 

* Copied from a transcript in short-hand characters, found 
among the papers of Henry Erskine of Falkirk. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



319 



The price of them bound will be four shillings. If you 
or your friends would take a few, it might be for the 
glory of God. My Journal, which I bring over, will 
acquaint you how the work of God goes on abroad. 
Indeed, it is wonderful. The orphan-house has suc- 
ceeded far beyond expectation. I will send you the 
particulars as soon as I print my account. I am now 
going to England, expecting to suffer (see) great things. 
I hear there are sad divisions and errors sprung up 
among the brethren. In the spirit of meekness I have 
answered dear Mr. Wesley's sermon entitled Free 
Grace, and trust God will enable me to bear a full and 
explicit testimony to all his eternal truths. Blessed be 
his holy name, I am enlightened daily in the covenant 
of redemption, and think I experience more and more 
of the divine life in my soul. I long to be holy even as 
God is holy; and though I expect not perfection on 
this side eternity, yet I would press after it day by day. 

I believe it is my duty to marry. You will help me 
with your prayers in this, as in all other respects. You 
see, dear Sir, how freely I open my heart to you, though 
I never saw you face to face. If it be the will of God, 
I shall be glad to come into your parts before I leave 
England. But I fear my speedy return into America 
will not permit me. I purpose to embark again, God 
willing, in the latter end of July or the beginning of 
August. I write to you so soon, lest I should not have 
time on shore. I hope my love will find acceptance 
with your dear brother, and all the Associate Presby- 
tery. My prayers always attend them. I should be 
glad to sit at their feet, and be taught the way of God 
more perfectly. I am a child, and feel more and more 



320 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



every day that I am nothing, less than nothing. Excuse 
this long letter. When I begin, I know not how to 
leave off. Indeed you are very dear to, 

" Your unworthy friend, brother, and servant in the 
blessed Jesus, 

G. Whitefield " 

" London, March 16, 174L 
" I arrived here yesterday morning. The Lord gave 
me a sweet passage. O praise the Lord of all lords ; 
his niercy endureth for ever." 

Letter — Mr. Ralph Er shine to Mr. Whitefield* 

" Dunfermline, April 10, 1741. 
" Rev. and very Dear Brother, 

" I received joyfully 
your letter dated on board the Minerva Feb. 16th, and 
desire to praise the Lord with you for his wonderful 
care of, and works done by you. I did not immediately 
answer, because ere I did so, I intended that my bre- 
thren should share with me in the pleasure I had by 
your's, and that my answer might impart their friendly 
salutations as well as my own, which I hereby send 
you. — Mr. Wilson in Perth, who teacheth as our Pro- 
fessor of Divinity, has more candidates for the ministry 
under his charge, than most of the public colleges, ex- 
cept Edinburgh. I have two sons with Mm. They 

* This letter has been repeatedly printed. It is here copied 
from Mr. M Lilian's Memoir, prefixed to his Beauties of the 
Rev. R. Erskine. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKTNE. 



321 



seem as yet to be promising youths ; but O pray for 
them, that they may be fitted with others, for usefulness 
in the Lord's vineyard. I am glad that the Marrow of 
Modern Divinity has been helpful to you, as it has been 
to many. I hope that, and Boston's works, which you 
have perused, will contribute to give you the same views 
of the Gospel with all other evangelical divines, and be 
more and more a fence to you against the erroneous 
stuff that lards the most part of preachings and prints. 
Blessed be God, you are set for the defence of the 
Gospel, and that I hear you sing of distinguishing grace, 
and of our Lord s powerful presence with you. Go on, 
dear brother, in asserting and publishing the doctrine of 
grace reigning through his righteousness to eternal life ; 
for this, and only this Gospel, will be the organ of 
omnipoteney, and the power of God to the salvation of • 
sinners. 

" Within these two days, I have seen the bitter 
queries sent you, and your mild answers. Blessed be 
the Lord that makes you like the industrious bee, that 
gathers sweet honey out of bitter flowers. Some of 
their observes will, I hope, work more and more for 
your good, advance your growth, and further your cau- 
tion and circumspection. As I did greatly disrelish the 
bitter spirit in which they wrote, so I noticed their legal 
strain in vindicating Tillotson and the Whole Duty of 
Man. I see them confound the covenant of grace or 
redemption, that stands fast in Christ, with the divine 
method in the application and dispensation thereof in 
the Gospel ; and confounding the condition of the co- 
venant of grace, (which is properly the doing and dying 
or perfect righteousness of Christ) with the duties and 
works of the covenanted. — You are still dearer and 



322 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



dearer to me. By your last journal I observed your 
growing zeal for the doctrine of grace. 
" Rev. and dear brother, 

Your's in him who is (the best centre of our love 
and union) the Lord our righteousness. 

Ralph Erskine." 

To this very friendly letter the writer appears, a few 
weeks after, to have added another, explicitly disclosing 
his sentiments and wishes and those of his brethren, re- 
lative to the manner in which his beloved correspondent 
should exercise his office, during his intended visit to 
Scotland. In the two following, Mr. Whitefield replies 
to this proposal with his accustomed candour : — 

Letter. — Mr. Whitefield to Mr. Ebenezer Erskine.* 

" Bristol, May 16, 1741. 

" Rev. and Dear Sir, 

" I owe you much love. Only 
want of time prevents my writing to you oftener. This 
morning I received a kind letter from your brother 
Ralph, who thinks it best for me wholly to join the 
Associate Presbytery, if it shall please God to send me 
into Scotland. This I cannot altogether come into. 
I come only as an occasional preacher, to preach the 
simple Gospel to all that are willing to hear me, of 
whatever denomination. It will be wrong in me to 
join in a reformation as to church government, any fur- 
ther than I have light given me from above. If I am 
quite neuter as to that in my preaching, I cannot see 



* Letters by the Rev. G. Whitefield, vol. i. Let. 280. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 323 

how it can hinder or retard any design you may have 
on foot. My business seems to be to evangelize, to be 
a presbyter at large. When I shall be sent into your 
parts, I know not. I write this, that there may not be 
the least misunderstanding betwixt us. I love and hon- 
our the Associate Presbytery in the bowels of Jesus 
Christ. With this I send them my due respects, and 
most humbly beg their prayers. But let them not be 
offended, if in all things I cannot immediately fall in 
with them. Let them leave me to God. Whatever 
light he is pleased to give me, I hope I shall be faithful 
to it. Our dear and precious Master still carries me 
on. God enables me to fight my way through. The 
Gospel doctrines, I believe, will yet prevail. I feel a 
divine power attending my ministrations. I preach 
twice daily, and am invited to many places. I believe 
the Lord intends to keep me on this side the water [the 
Atlantic] for some time. Blessed be God, all places 
are alike to me. O dear Sir, pray for me. I am a poor 
unworthy worm. I love you tenderly, but am almost 
ashamed to subscribe myself, 

" Your brother in the best of bonds, 

G. Whitefield." 

Letter. — Mr, Whitefield to Mr. Ralph Er shine,* 

" London^ June 4, 1741. 
" Reverend and Dear Sir, 

" I have now a little 
time to myself. I must improve it, and answer your 
kind letter. Blessed be God for enabling me to write 



* Letters by the Reverend G. Whitefield, vol. i. Lett. 280. 



324 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



any thing that may be of service to his church and the 
comfort of your soul. Glory be to our dear and com- 
mon Lord, his cause here succeeds. Truth gains 
ground. The Lord strengthens me mightily. His 
power is manifested in our congregations. Conver- 
sion work is going on apace among us. I am not yet 
determined about the exact time of coming to Scotland ; 
but I believe I shall be with you in about three months. 
I can't but think the Associate Presbytery a little too 
hard upon me. If I am neuter as to the particular 
reformation of church-government till I have further 
light, it will be enough. I come simply to preach the 
gospel, and to be received only as an occasional itine- 
rant preacher by all, and not to enter into any particu- 
lar connexion whatever. The Lord, I hope, will or- 
der my goings in his ways. I desire to hear frequently 
from you ; 1 have need of your pra\^ers. My trials are 
great, my comforts far greater. I am a poor worm, 
and yet Jesus delights to honour me. We are likely 
to have settled societies in several places. Jesus rides 
on from conquering to conquer. I am, 
" Reverend and Dear Sir, 
" Your unworthy fellow-labour, and affectionate bro- 
ther, and servant in Christ, 

G. Whitefield." 

Mr. Ebenezer Erskine, shortly after receiving the 
above letter of May 16th, wrote a kind answer to Mr. 
Whitefield, bearing date, " Hilldown, near Dunbar, 
June 1741," in which he expresses his eager desire to 
see him preaching in Scotland with the same power 
and success that had attended his ministrations in 
England and America. The proposal made to him by 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



325 



his brother Ralph and himself in the name of the As- 
sociate Presbytery, he assures him, arose from " no 
party views and at the same time, he adds : — " But, 
if, besides, you could find freedom to company with us, 
to preach with us and for us, and to accept of our 
advice in your work while in this country, it might 
contribute much to weaken the enemy's hand, and to 
strengthen our's in the work of the Lord, when the 
strength of the battle is against us."* 

The mutual correspondence now detailed was at last 
succeeded by the memorable personal interview which 
took place at Dunfermline, betwixt Mr. Whitefield and 
the members of the Associate Presbytery, in the month 
of August 1741 ; and which unhappily proved far less 
pleasant and satisfactory than they had allowed them- 
selves to anticipate. On this somewhat delicate topic, 
we shall begin by stating the facts of the conference, so 
far as they can yet be learned from authentic docu- 
ments. 

The two following letters, written in haste by Mr. 
Erskine, immediately after a first sight and hearing of 
Mr. Whitefield, serve to show T the favourable impres- 
sion made upon his mind by his conversation and dis- 
courses, as well as the lively solicitude he felt to secure 
the continuance of friendship, and to see a harmonious 
co-operation established betwixt that celebrated preacher 
and the Associate Presbytery.f 

* See this Letter in theLife of Eben. Erskine, pp. 424-. — 427. 
•f We have been favoured with correct copies of these letters 
by a friend* 



326 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



" To the Rev. Mr. Ebenezer Erskine, Minister of the 
Gospel at Stirling. 

" Dear Brother, 

" Yesterday, about 3 afternoon, Mr. 
Whitefield landed at Leith ; and after tarrying about an 
hour in Edinburgh, he thence, over the belly of vast 
opposition, came to me yesternight about ten. I had 
conversation with him alone this forenoon. I only 
mention this one thing about his ordination ; he owned 
he then knew no other way, but said he would not have 
it that way again for a thousand worlds. As to his 
preaching, he declares he can refuse no call to preach 
Christ, whoever gives it ; were it a Jesuit priest or a 
Mahometan, he would embrace it, for testifying against 
them. He preached in my meeting-house this after- 
noon ; the Lord is evidently with him. He could not 
be detained from returning to Edinburgh this night. 
But this comes to inform you that he is to return here 
to Dunfermline, on Tuesday night, and expects to see 
and converse with my brethren on the Wednesday. 
I am, 

" Dear Brother, yours affectionately, 

Ralph Erskine." 

" Dunfermline, July 31, 1741. 

" To the Rev. Mr. Adam Gibb, Minister of the Gospel 
at Edinburgh. 

" Reverend and Dear Brother, 

" Mr. Whitefield was, it seems, 
under some engagements to return to Edinburgh. I 



THE REV. RALPH ERSK1NE. 



327 



have many pleasant things to say of him, and his com- 
munication with me. which I have not time to write of. 
But I find his light leads him to preach even at the call 
of those against whom he can freely testify. This comes 
to shew you that he designs and desires to meet with 
the Brethren, and has promised to be at Dunfermline 
on Tuesday evening, that he may have the Wednesday 
with them. This I inform you of, that you may at- 
tend ; and I hope you will endeavour to inform Mr. 
James Mair and Mr. Hutton. This in haste from, 
R. D. B. Yours affectionately, 

Ralph Erskixe." 
" Queens Ferry, July 31, 1741." 

" I am in this place by coming along with Mr. 
Whitefield to the Ferry. He preached in my meeting- 
house this day. 1 see the Lord is with him. I expect 
he will call for you. I got your letter." 

During the short interval betwixt his first arjpearance 
at Dunfermline and his conversation with the Associate 
Presbytery there, Mr. Whitefield wrote a letter to a 
friend at a distance, of which we give the following 
extract : — * 

" To Mr. J . C 

Edinburgh, Aug. 1, 1741. 

" My very dear Brother, 

" The Lord was very gracious to 
me on board. He gave us a pleasant passage. As you 
know that the Messrs. Erskines gave me the first invi- 



* Letters by the Reverend G-. Whitefield, vol, i. Lett. 337 . 



328 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



tation to Scotland, and have been praying for me in the 
most public, explicit, I could almost say, extravagant 
manner, for nearly two years last past, I was determined 
to give them the first offer of my poor ministrations* 
Accordingly I went yesterday to Dunfermline, where 
dear Mr. Ralph Erskine hath got a large and separate, 
or as it is commonly termed, Seceding Meeting-house. 
He received me very lovingly. I preached to his and 
the town's people, a very thronged assembly. After I 
had done prayer and named my text, the rustling made 
by opening the bibles all at once quite surprised me ; a 
scene I never was witness to before. Our conversation, 
after sermon in the house, was such as became the 

gospel of Christ. They urged a longer stay, in order 

to converse more closely, and to set me right about 
church government and the Solemn League and Cove- 
nant. I informed them that I had given notice of 
preaching in Edinburgh this evening ; but as they de- 
sired it, I would in a few days return and meet the 
Associate Presbytery in Mr. Ralph's house. This was 
agreed on. Dear Mr. Erskine accompanied me, and 
this evening I preached to many thousands in a place 
called the Orphan-house Park. The Lord was there. 
Immediately after sermon, a large company, among 
whom were some of the nobility, came to salute me. 
Amid our conversation came in a portly well-looking 
Quaker, nephew to Messrs. Erskine, formerly a Baptist 
minister in the north of England, who taking me by the 
hand said, ' Friend George I am as thou art ; I am for 
bringing all to the life and power of the ever-living God ; 
and therefore if thou wilt not quarrel with me about my 
hat, I will not quarrel with thee about thy gown.' In 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKIXE. 



329 



this respect I wish all of every denomination were thus 
minded. 

G. Whitefield." 

The intended conference, followed by public worship 
in the evening, took place on Wednesday the 5th of 
August. It is confessedly difficult to obtain a correct 
account of any conversation that is held by a number 
of persons on points to which importance is attached, 
and more especially when the result is unsatisfactory 
and dissensions arise. In such cases reason requires us 
at least coolly to hear and compare the reports of both 
parties. Even where the integrity of all concerned is 
above suspicion, it is invariably found that slight di- 
versities occur in the statements of individuals, and the 
omissions of one are supplied by another. 

Mr. Whitefield's account of this conference, which 
appears in his published letters, is well known. It ex- 
hibits indications of that good man's constitutional vein 
for humour, and it has been eagerly appealed to by 
subsequent writers, who wished to expose the Associate 
Presbytery to ridicule and contempt. Let it suffice to 
quote the following passage from a letter to a friend in 
America.* 

Letter.— Mr. Whitefield to Mr. Thomas N — , at 

New York* 

" Edinburgh^ Aug. 8, 1741. 

" My dear Brother, 

" The Associate Presbytery 

here are so confined that they will not so much as hear 

* Letters by the Rev. G. Whitefield, vol. i. Lett. 339. 



330 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



me, unless I only will join with them. Mr. Ralph 
Erskine, indeed, did hear me, and w r ent up with me 
into the pulpit of the Canongate Church. The people 
were ready to shout for joy ; but I believe it gave of- 
fence to his associates. I met most of them according 
to appointment on Wednesday last. A set of grave 
venerable men ! They soon proposed to form themselves 
into a Presbytery, and were proceeding to choose a 
moderator. I asked them for what purpose? They 
answered, to discourse and set me right about the matter 
of church government and the Solemn League and Co« 
venant. I replied, they might save themselves that 
trouble, for I had no scruples about it, and that settling 
church government, and preaching about the Solemn 
League and Covenant, was not my plan. I then told 
them something of my experience, and how I was led 
out into my present way of acting. One, in particular, 
said he was deeply affected ; and the dear Mr. Erskine 
desired they would have patience with me, for that 
having been born and bred in England, and never 
studied the point, I could not be supposed to be so per- 
fectly acquainted with the nature of their covenants. 
One much warmer than the rest immediately replied, 
6 that no indulgence was to be shown me ; that Eng- 
land had revolted most with respect to church govern- 
ment, and that I, born and educated there, could not 
but be acquainted with the matter now in debate.' I 
told him I had never yet made the Solemn League and 
Covenant the object of my study, being too busy about 
matters, as I judged, of greater importance. Several 
replied, that every pin of the tabernacle was precious. 
I said that in every building there were outside and in- 
side workmen : that the latter at present was my pro- 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



331 



vince ; that if they thought themselves called to the 
former, they might proceed in their own way, and I 
should proceed in mine. I then asked them seriously 
what they would have me to do. The answer was, that 
I was not desired to subscribe immediately to the So- 
lemn League and Covenant, but to preach only for 
them till I had further light. I asked, why only for 
them ? Mr. Ralph Erskine said, 6 they were the Lord's 
people.' I then asked, whether there were no other 
Lord's people but themselves ; and supposing all others 
were the devil's people, they certainly had more need 
to be preached to, and therefore I was more and more 
determined to go out into the highways and hedges ; 
and that if the pope himself would lend me his pulpit, I 
would gladly proclaim the righteousness of Jesus Christ 
therein. Soon after this, the company broke up, and 
one of these otherwise venerable men immediately went 
into the meeting-house and preached upon these words, 
< Watchman, what of the night ? Watchman, what of 
the night ? The watchman said, the morning cometh, 
and also the night : if ye will enquire, enquire ye ; re- 
turn, come.' I attended, but the good man so spent 
himself on the former part of his sermon in talking 
against Prelacy, the Common Prayer Book, the Surplice, 
the Rose in the Hat, and such like externals, that when 
he came to the latter part of his text, to invite poor 
sinners to Jesus Christ, his breath was so gone that 
he could scarce be heard. What a pity that the last 
was not first and the first last. The consequence of 
all this was an open breach. I retired, I wept, I pray- 
ed ; and after preaching in the fields, sat down and 
dined with them, and then took a final leave. 

Ever your's in our common Lord, 

G. Whitefteld." 



332 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



Such then is Mr. Whitefield's history of this sin- 
gular interview. Let us now hear those notices of 
it on the other side, which it has been in our power 
to collect. 

The following statement, by a highly esteemed mi- 
nister of the Secession, though not of that age, or an eye- 
witness of the scene, may be here introduced : — 

" Sometime after Mr. Whitefield's coming to Scot- 
land, the Presbytery, or members of it, had a conversa- 
tion with him. It is likely enough that the solemn 
league might be mentioned in this conversation. But 
it has still been understood, that the direct and principal 
reason of difference was about church government. On 
this head, an anecdote is commonly told, the truth of 
which there seems to be no reason to doubt. After a 
good deal of reasoning as to a particular form of church 
government being prescribed in Scripture, Mr. White- 
field, laying his hand on his heart, said, ' I do not find 
it here.' Mr. Alexander Moncrieff, who was of a warm 
temper, giving a rap on the Bible, which was lying on 
the table, replied, 6 But I find it here.' On this, if I 
mistake not, the conversation terminated; and it has 
still been asserted, that the proper ground of their giving 
up any connexion with Mr. Whitefield was his posi- 
tive denial that any particular form of church govern- 
ment was of Divine authority, and declaring his resolu- 
tion to maintain this in his public ministrations."* 

The representation which this learned author gives 
of the principal subject of the conversation, and the 
cause of that " open breach" which ensued, is confirmed 

* Remarks on the Rev 7 . Rowland HilPs Journal, by John 
Jamieson, D. D., Edinburgh, p. 39. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



333 



by an original memorandum, written by Mr. Ebenezer 
Erskine soon after the conversation took place.* 

" Here follows an Account of a Conversation held with 
Mr. Whitefield at Dunfermline, Wednesday, August 
5th, 1741. The ministers of the Presbytery present, 
were Messrs. Ralph and Ebenezer Erskine, Mr. 
Moncrieff, Mr. Gibb, Messrs. Thomas and James 
Mair, Mr. Clarkson, with two elders, namely, Mr. 
[James Wardlaw and Mr. John Moubray.~\ 

66 We being advertised to be here this day, by a letter 
from Mr. Ralph Erskine, who had formed the tryst 
with Mr. Whitefield, Mr. Ralph's letter bearing, that 
Mr. Whitefield desired the conference, &c, and that he 
had yielded so far to him as to his episcopal ordination, 
that he would not take it again for a thousand worlds, 
but at the time he knew no better. Upon Tuesday 
night, when we arrived at the place, we waited upon 
Mr. Whitefield in Mr. Erskine's house, where and 
when we had some conversation about several things 
relating to the state of affairs in the church. Wednes- 
day forenoon, the ministers and elders above-mentioned 
met with Mr. Whitefield, in consequence of a letter 
from Mr. Ralph Erskine, desiring they might have a 
conference with him ; and they having met as above, a 
motion was made, that Mr. Ebenezer Erskine pray 
before they entered upon conversation. As Mr. White- 

* This memorandum is copied verbatim from Mr. Ebenezer 
Erskine's short-hand characters^ lately observed in one of his 
note-books. 

P 

I 



334 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



field showed an inclination to proceed to a conference 
about toleration for a time, it was proposed, that, seeing 
toleration of all sects by a church is an opinion of his, 
as supported by some Scriptures, and as that principle 
concerns church government, it was thought fit to con- 
sider what is the form of government Christ has laid 
down in his word. And agreeably to this, Mr. White- 
field put the question, Whether Presbyterian govern- 
ment be that which is agreeable to the pattern shown 
in the mount ? and supposing that it is, if it excluded a 
toleration of such as Independents, Anabaptists, and 
Episcopalians, among whom there are good men ? 

" Mr. Ebenezer Erskine said to him, 6 Sir, God has 
made you an instrument of gathering a great multitude 
of souls to the faith and profession of the gospel of 
Christ throughout England, and also in foreign parts ; 
and now it is fit that you should be considering how 
that body is to be organized and preserved : which can- 
not be done without following the example of Paul and 
Barnabas, who, when they had gathered churches by 
the preaching of the gospel, visited them again, and 
ordained over them elders in every city; which you 
cannot do alone, without some two or three met to- 
gether in a judicative capacity in the name of the 
Lord.' Unto all which Mr. Whitefield replied, that 
he reckoned it his present duty to go on in preaching 
the gospel, without proceeding to any such work. It 
was urged, that it might please the Lord to call upon 
him ; and, in that case, there being none other, the flock 
might be scattered, and fall into the hands of grievous 
wolves without any to care for them. He said, that he 
being of the communion of the Church of England, had 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



335 



none to join him in that work, and that he had no free- 
dom to separate from the Church of England, until they 
did cast him out or excommunicate him." 

It is to be regretted, that an authorized account of 
the conversation in question, probably more full and 
circumstantial than this memorandum written by Mr. 
Ebenezer, cannot now be found. That an account of 
this description once existed, appears from the following 
document :— 

Letter — " To the Rev. Mr. Adam Gibb, Minister of 
the Gospel in Edinburgh, at Mr. Clelands house, 
above the Weigh- house, north side of the street, 
Edinburgh. 

« R. D. B. 

" I expected before this time a copy of the 
conversation we had with Mr. Whitefield in this place. 
I have some occasions that require my having it. 
Therefore please send me, if you can, a copy with this 
post. I'll be glad to have your news. I hear Mr. 
Whitefield is to be in this bound toward the end of this 
week. I sent him this day a letter, wherein I used 
much plainness with him, on account of his declining 
conversation with us upon Church Government, and 

upon the influence I dreaded he was now under, ■ — 

though all my plainness was in the most kindly way. 
I am, 

R. D. B. yours, very affectionately, 
"Dunfermline, Aug. 17, 1741. Ralph Erskine." 

The letter to Mr. Whitefield, referred to in these 
lines to Mr. Gibb, we are unable to produce. We have 



336 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



discovered, however, in one of Mr. Erskine's manu- 
scripts, a few previous jottings, which seem sufficient to 
show us the general scope of that letter. They are 
as follows :— 

" I write more freely than I can speak. Sor- 
rowful for being disappointed about your lying open to 
light, as appears from your declining conversation on 

that head, sorrowful for your coming harnessed 

with a resolution to stand out against every thing that 

should be advanced against . The freedom I used 

at first, and whereof I am not ashamed, in accompany- 
ing you first to my own pulpit here, and then to another 
in Edinburgh, was founded upon a full expectation I 
had, that you were, as I have many times said, in the 
road of reformation, not only as to the doctrine, but 
also every thing relating to the security of it, and all 
things relating to the house of God, and which, you 

knew, we were contending for. A conversation 

to be wished, free of that confusion that took place on 
Wednesday, occasioned by the hurry of ringing of bells, 
and expectation of sermon, at a time when the brethren 
wished for a sedate conversation. 

" As since your conversion, you learned the doctrine 
by reading your Bible on your knees, so may you learn 
what relates to the discipline and government the same 
way : but to refer the disquisition of this cause till you 
read books pro and con, and peruse the volumes of 
different parties ; in this way you must propose to 
come to an end of life before you come to the end of 
books. " 

The reader is now in possession of all the original 
documents of any value regarding this noted conference. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



337 



which we have hitherto seen ; and his attention is re- 
quested to the following remarks. 

The undoubted excellencies of Mr. Whitefleld's cha- 
racter, and the astonishing effects of his ministry, are 
calculated, in some degree, to bias the judgment in his 
favour, and to disqualify his admirers for equitably de- 
ciding a disputed point in which he is concerned. With 
all his misapprehensions and eccentricities, he was a 
great man of God. Sincerely pious, fervent in spirit, 
active and indefatigable in his habits, and endowed with 
unrivalled powers of eloquence, he became the honoured 
instrument of converting a vast number of souls to the 
Saviour. Our admiration for his worth, talents, and 
success, should not, however, induce us to justify his 
infirmities and mistakes, or to load with unmeasured 
opprobrium, any class of faithful men, whose sentiments 
and methods of proceeding were not entirely in accord- 
ance with his. 

Some members of the Associate Presbytery, it is 
granted, had been " weak" enough to flatter themselves 
with too sanguine expectations of persuading Mr. White- 
field almost entirely to adopt their views. Yet, who 
can deny that these hopes are in part to be attributed 
to the spirit of docility he breathed in his letters, and 
to the ardent, if not " extravagant" expressions of per- 
sonal respect and attachment they contained ? Shortly 
before his first visit to Scotland, he had indeed ex- 
pressly stated his resolution to confine his services to no 
particular denomination. It was not easy, however, 
to obliterate the impressions made, or to extinguish the 
hopes enkindled, by such previous declarations as these: 
w I should be glad to sit at their feet, and be taught the 



338 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



way of God more perfectly :" " There is no face on 
earth I would desire more earnestly to see ;" " Though I 
die with you, by God's help I will not deny you in any 
wise." Besides, he had freely confessed, and openly 
testified against the corruptions of the English church ; 
and more than once he declared, that he " would not 
receive ordination again by the hands of a bishop for a 
thousand worlds." 

Another circumstance must not be overlooked. At 
the very moment of his first landing in Scotland, an 
opportunity was eagerly seized, of attempting to infuse 
prejudices into his mind against the ministers of the 
Secession, and the cause in which they had embarked. 
Mr. Erskine, we have seen above, refers to his " coming 
harnessed" to the conference at Dunfermline ; and, in a 
letter to Mr. Gibb, he speaks of having written to Mr. 
Whitefield concerning " the influence" he dreaded he 
w r as now under. To understand what is meant by this 
" influence," it is necessary only to read the following 
extract from a " Biographical Sketch of the late Dr. 
Alexander Webster, one of the ministers of the city of 
Edinburgh," a clergyman of acknowledged dexterity 
and eloquence — 

" In the year 1741, they [the ministers w T ho had 
seceded from the national church] invited down to 
Scotland Mr. George Whitefield, a young English 
preacher, of great piety, and extraordinary pulpit abili- 
ties. Mr. Whitefield, on his journey to Dunfermline 
the principal abode of the Secession, was met and enter- 
tained at Edinburgh by Mr. Webster, and some of his 
brethren. From them he learned the state of church 
prejudices and parties in Scotland ; and though he kept 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



339 



his promise of preaching first in Fife, he openly refused 
to connect himself with any particular sect."* 

The difference betwixt Mr. Whiter! eld and the se- 
ceding ministers did not at all turn on the subject of 
coercive measures in religion. Though he once sus- 
pected them of favouring the propagation of the truth 
" by " carnal weapons," he had seen good reason to 
lay aside that suspicion. The toleration referred to by 
Ebenezer Erskine, in his account of the conference, it is 
evident, was merely an ecclesiastical forbearance. The 
point in question was not, whether persons holding 
unscriptural tenets should be tolerated by the state, 
but whether such persons should be admitted members 
of the church — whether those who entertained opposite 
views relative to the government Christ has appointed 
in his house, should hold fellowship with each other in 
all divine ordinances. 

The Associate Presbytery, it may be readily con- 
ceded, were somewhat " hard upon" Mr. Whitefield. 
It would certainly have become them, at least some of 
them, to have treated him in a more gentle and con- 
ciliatory way. His sentiments and theirs, however, 
were too discordant to admit of cordial co-operation. 
It was not to be imagined, that, if he fully retained his 
connexion with the Church of England, it could com- 
port with their principles or inclinations, any more than 
with their policy, to employ him as their fellow-labourer 
in the w r ork of reformation. In some instances he was 
keenly objected to on the same ground, by ministers 
who adhered to the national church. The Rev. Mr. 
Bisset of Aberdeen publicly entreated God to forgive 

* Scot's Magazine for 1802, p. '2^9- 



340 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



the dishonour that had been put upon him by Mr. 
Whitefield's being employed to preach in that pulpit ; 
and in the course of his sermon, he took occasion to as- 
sign, as one reason for the petition, that he was " a 
curate of the Church of England."* In a reply also to 
the Rev. Mr. Willison of Dundee, Mr. Whitefield says, 
" Your letter gave me some little concern. I thought 
it breathed much of a Sectarian spirit, to which, I hoped. 

dear Mr, W— was quite averse. Methinks you 

seem, dear Sir, not satisfied unless I declare myself a 
Presbyterian, and openly renounce the Church of Eng- 
land."f 

Impartial inquirers cannot fail to observe, that the 
ministers of the Associate Presbytery were now placed 
in very peculiar circumstances. The General Assembly 
having, in the year 1740, formally deposed them, and 
rendered it unconstitutional for any clergyman of the 
national church to recognize them in any form as 
brethren in office, they, on their part, adopted more 
rigid counsels than formerly with reference to commu- 
nion. The breach on both sides became extremely 
wide. It may be plausibly, if not justly alleged, that 
the seceding brethren, notwithstanding the treatment 
they had met with, ought not to have abandoned their 
original proposal, but continued to declare their will- 
ingness to hold fellowship with those ministers and 
members of the Church of Scotland who concurred with 
them in lamenting her defections, while they considered 
it their duty to remain within her pale. As matters 
now r stood, however, it is not wonderful that they de~ 

* Letters by Rev. Gr. Whitefield, Let. 36 L 
■f Ibid. Let. 429, dated July % 1742. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSK1NE. 



341 



termined to follow a stricter rule of proceeding ; and 
that in consequence, consistency required them to de- 
cline any public connexion with Mr. Whitefield, unless 
he could be prevailed on, during his residence in Scot- 
land, to relinquish his design to treat all the different 
parties alike. This refusal, whatever illiberality it may 
seem to display, is by no means strange. It has found 
its parallel in the transactions of various other churches 
in more recent times, not excepting those that are es- 
tablished by the Legislature. The Church of England, 
it is well known, still professedly regards the ministra- 
tions of all other Protestant churches as possessing no 
real validity ; and within less than forty years since, the 
General Assembly of the Church of Scotland expressly 
prohibited her clergy to open their pulpits even to any 
minister of the Church of England. Doth it not some- 
times happen, that the same measures which in one 
church are lauded as most necessary and salutary pre- 
cautions, are in another denounced as unequivocal 
proofs of sourness and bigotry ? 

Mr* Whitefield, in his account of the conference with 
the Associate Presbytery at Dunfermline,* takes no 
notice of the weighty considerations, urged by Ebenezer 
Erskine, to show the necessity of the regular organiza- 
tion of churches ; but he ascribes an expression to 
Ralph, which has been often cited as an instance of great 
illiberality of sentiment. On this point, we shall avail 
ourselves of the following explanation, furnished by a 
writer, who seems well acquainted with the history of 
the Secession : — 

" The conclusion of the conference, in which Mi\ 

* See above. 



342 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



Ralph Erskine is represented as saying of the Seceders. 
4 We are the Lord's people/ and the rest that follows, 
does not deserve much consideration. Nobody who 
knew any tiling of Ralph Erskine will for a moment 
believe, that these are the ipsissima verba that passed at 
the conference. Many things were said in it, we have 
no doubt, that appeared to Mr. Whitefield quite un- 
accountable ; and when he gave, what he apprehended 
was something like the sense of what was said on both 
sides — the exact words he could not give — there is 
reason to think that he, as on many other occasions, in- 
dulged a little his natural turn for pleasantry. Mr* 
Erskine, we believe, did say, that they, viz. the Sece- 
ders, were, in a particular sense, witnesses for the truth, 
from which the church of Scotland had in part apos- 
tatized, and were engaged in a cause, which, they were 
convinced, was the cause of God. These and similar 
expressions, we believe, were unconsciously caricatured 
by Mr. Whitefield ; but yet so far changed were they 
from their original consistent form and meaning, as to 

fit them in the hands of Sir H M , and 

others before him, for making the Seceders appear very 
ridiculous. As a farther proof that Mr. Ralph Erskine 
did not use any such preposterous arguments as those 
imputed to him, we have the best authority for saying, 
that nothing at all resembling them appeared in a full 
and accurate minute of the conference made out at the 
time, and long preserved, but which has at length un- 
fortunately disappeared."* 

That Mr. Erskine was in reality a man of a far more 

* Keview of Sir H. MoncreifPs Life of Dr, Erskine, Ch» 
Repos. vol. iv. p. 551. . 



THE REV. RALPH ERSK1NE. 



343 



liberal and catholic spirit than these " caricatured" ex- 
pressions would lead one to imagine, is evident from the 
tenor of his life and writings. We might refer to some 
passages in his letters to Mr. Whitefield himself,* and 
to several of his printed sermons.f But let it suffice to 
quote a few sentences from an unpublished address to 
his congregation, immediately preceding the adminis- 
tration of the Lord's Supper, August 10, 1740. Having 
shown the propriety of their adhering to the cause 
maintained by the ministers of the Secession, in contra- 
distinction to the course pursued by those who had de- 
posed them, he anticipates and answers a question on 
this point as follows : — 

" But does our joining with you import an obligation 
never to hear or join again with any in the present 
establishment, be they otherwise ever such good men 
and well-disposed, or never to hear or join with any 
but such as are associate with you? I answer, this 
would, indeed, be a very untender, immerciful, and un- 
reasonable term of communion, and would be justly 
condemned by all the Christian world. This would be 
to exclude ourselves and others from all occasional and 
providential communion with all the churches of Christ 
upon earth that are not just of our society. This would 
be, as I heard one lately say, to cast off all that have 
Christ's image, unless they have just our image too. We 
are far from thinking that all are Christ's friends that 
join with us, and that all are his enemies that do not. 
No indeed." 

Considerate and unbiassed judges will, perhaps, see 

* See above, p. 300, the letter, dated Aug. 21, 1J39. 
■f See vol. i. p. 694. 



344 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



cause, on the whole, to conclude, as a late writer ha* 
expressed it, that Mr. Wbitefield and the Associate 
Presbytery < 4 parted in a manner which has left no 
credit to either party."* This awkward parting, with- 
out question, supplies an example of human infirmity 
calculated to operate as a salutary warning to Christians 
in succeeding times, whilst the brotherly correspondence 
by the pen which preceded, may still, under the Divine 
blessing, prove a means of strengthening the best affec- 
tions of the heart. 

* Chalmers' Lives of Distinguished and Illustrious Scotsmen,. 
Art. Rev. Ralph Erskine. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



345 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Observations on the controversy respectiny the Cambuslang work 
— Mr. Erskine's share in that dispute — Loyalty during the Re- 
bellion, 1745-6 — His remarks on the flight of the Highland 
army — Imaginary interview with the Duke of Cumberland — 
His deportment, trials, and writings on occasion of the Breach 
in the Associate Synod, 1747 — Continued activity and useful- 
ness. — Disappointment in not obtaining his son James for his col- 
league — Exercise under bodily afflictions — Circumstances of his 
death and burial — -His successors in the ministry at Dunferm- 
line. 

" The beginning of contention is as when one letteth 
out water." With great rapidity it rises to a mournful 
height, and its operation proves equally mischievous 
and extensive. Strife among " brethren" is usually 
marked by peculiar virulence. The higher the esteem 
and the stronger the affection they once entertained for 
each other, and the more sanguine the expectations 
they cherished of increasing each other's happiness and 
usefulness by mutual fellowship and assistance, they be- 
come, in the event of a difference, the more deeply and 
irreconcilably offended. Irritated by the pangs of dis- 
appointment, they seldom rest satisfied with relinquish- 
ing all fraternal intercourse ; they generally, less or 
more, indulge in positive rancour and fierce hostilities. 

The ungracious meeting and abrupt parting that took 
place betwixt Mr. Whitefield and the Associate Presby- 
tery, after the affectionate correspondence which for a 



346 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



few years had been maintained by that distinguished 
individual and some members of the Presbytery, could 
hardly fail to wound the feelings of both parties, and to 
pave the way for sharp contention. Mr. Whitefield did 
not hesitate to express his disgust at the " narrow* 
views to which they were attached, and to represent 
their scheme as a proper subject for ridicule. Their 
plan of reformation, it is well known, was characterized 
by him as i; a Babel building that behoved to be pulled 
down f in reference to which Ralph Erskine thus ex- 
pressed himself : " We hope the glory of God. and the 
God of glory is so much concerned in it. that it will 
defy all the gates of hell to prevail against it."" Mr. 
Whitefield too. having differed with the Seceders. was 
received with the utmost cordiality by the evangelical 
clergymen of the establishment ; and while prompted, 
there is reason to hope, by a sincere desire for the con- 
version of sinners and the revival of religion, they en- 
couraged him in his powerful preaching and extraordi- 
nary labours, they also availed themselves confessedly 
of his friendship and his ministrations, as means of up- 
holding the interests of the national establishment in 
opposition to those of an alarming secession. + 

* This sentence is quoted from one of Mr. Erskine's manu- 
scripts. Some remarks on that famous saying of Mr. Whitefield 
may be seen in the Life of Eben. E. Pp. 429, 430. 

f This statement is justified by a pamphlet written by the 
Rev. John Bisset of Aberdeen, entitled. A Letter to a 
Gentleman in Edinburgh, containing remarks upon a late Apo- 
logy for the Presbyterians in Scotland who keep communion in 
the ordinances of the gospel with 3Ir. George Whitefield. a 
priest of the Church of England." The letter bears date Oct. 
26, 1742. " I am heartily sorry/' says the writer, Pp. 4, 5. 
t: for the narrow way of thinking and unaccountable way of doing 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



347 



The ministers of the Secession, on their part, suffered 
their prepossessions and feelings on this occasion, to 
carry them beyond all reasonable bounds. Had they 
been content with addressing calm and dignified admo- 
nitions to their people regarding the laxity of Mr. 
Whitefield's principles in reference to the government 
of the church and the necessity of acting a consistent 
part as sound presbyterians, and as witnesses for sacred 
truth and religious liberty, no one could have justly 
blamed them. Most unhappily, however, they poured 
out against that excellent man, and against their former 
friends and brethren in the church of Scotland, a tor- 
rent of bitter invectives, for which the strenuous efforts 
employed to disparage their own proceedings and to 
obstruct the success of their cause, furnish no adequate 
apology. 

To detail the subsequent labours of Mr. Whitefield 
in Scotland, or to discuss the questions relative to what 
is styled the Cambuslang ivork, does not belong to the 
present narrative. The circumstances of that extraor- 
dinary scene have been related in various publications ; 
the opposite views that were taken of it, have been zeal- 
ously supported by the respective parties ;* nor can we 

that is with some of the worthy ministers of the Secession, who 
forbid communion with such ministers as are not one whit behind 
themselves in witnessing against prevailing evils, and the defec- 
tions of the Church of Scotland. But I never expected that 
some ministers and elders, because of their extremes, would have 
given up with all their former contendings, and have invited, 
employed, and caressed a subverter of our government, as it 
would seem, for this end, to break the Seceders." 

* See Rev. Mr. M'Xulloch's Account of the work at Cambus- 
lang, Narrative of the Extraordinary Work of the Spirit of God 



348 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



boast of having discovered any documents that serve to 
throw much additional light on the subject. Yet since 
the subject of this memoir took a considerable share in 
the controversy, we must not pass it over without a few 
observations. 

Mr. Whitefield was induced to prolong his first visit 
to Scotland for about the space of three months ; during 
which his energetic and extensive ministrations attracted 
public notice beyond all precedent, and produced strik- 
ing effects on many of his hearers. Having also re- 
turned next summer 1742, he concurred with several 
pious ministers of the national church in promoting the 
singular work which had commenced at Cambuslang in 
the spring of that year. His previous preaching indeed, 
with the perusal of his Journals and similar publications 
of the English Methodists, was understood to have ex- 
ercised a primary influence on its commencement. 
Both the abettors and the revilers of this work un- 
questionably proceeded to extremes. The established 
clergy extolled it beyond measure as " a glorious work 
of the Spirit of God," while the seceding ministers most 
unjustifiably reproached it, without due discrimination, 
as a " delusion of the devil." Credible testimony com- 

at Kilsyth, &c. by the Rev. James Robe of Kilsyth, Mr. Robe's 
Three Letters to Mr. Fisher, Dr. Webster's Letter concerning 
Divine Influence, &c. Willison's Fair and Impartial Testimony, 
Pp. 102 — 109. On the other side, see Fisher's Review of the 
Preface to Mr. Robe's narrative, Mr. Ralph Erskine's Fraud 
and Falsehood detected, &c. Among more recent accounts of 
this work, see Dr. Meek on Cambuslang Parish in Statist. Acc, 
of Scotland, vol. v. Pp. 266—274. Strutters' Hist, of Scotland, 
Vol ii. Pp. 59 — 72, and Hist. Acc of Secession in Christ. Re- 
posit, vol. v. Pp. 158 — 169. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



349 



pels us to believe that, though multitudes who had then 
experienced temporary impressions of the truth, subse- 
quently gave practical evidence that they had been de- 
ceived and deluded by Satan or their own hearts, there 
were several hundreds of persons, whose exemplary con- 
duct in future life afforded, sufficient proof that at that 
memorable period they had in reality been visited with 
the regenerating power of the Divine Spirit. Amidst 
the keen discussions which took place, however, too lit- 
tle attention was given, on either side, to the force of 
sympathy and the constitutional tendencies of indivi- 
duals, which were certainly the natural causes of much 
that was ascribed to these contrary sources, the gracious 
influence of heaven, and the malignant ageney of hell. 
The worthy ministers who promoted the work appear, 
at least in the first instance, to have attached undue im- 
portance, and lent too much encouragement to those 
bodily agitations and violent outcryings, with which con- 
victions of sin and discoveries of the Saviour were fre- 
quently attended. Mr. Erskine affirms that he 44 sel- 
dom ever heard any such clamorous noise in time of 
public worship without giving a public check to it 
and the defenders of the work ultimately satisfied them- 
selves with maintaining, " that such effects on the body 
are not incompatible with saving operations on the 
mind."f 

The visionary representations with which many of 
the converts considered themselves favoured, gave rise 
to much disputation. On the one side, it was held, that 

* Faith no Fancy, Appendix to Preface, p. xvi. 
■J- Letter from Mr. Alex. Webster to Mr. R. Erskine, &c. 
1743, p. 16. 



350 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



images of spiritual things must necessarily be represent- 
ed more or less strongly to the fancy, and that " ima- 
ginary ideas of Christ as man belonged to saving faith," 
or at least were " helpful to the faith of his being God- 
man." Those who refused to acquiesce in this doctrine, 
were even accused of heresy and blasphemy. On the 
other side, it was argued, that such imaginary ideas are 
unwarranted by Scripture, and injurious to the exercise 
of genuine faith. On this question, " Mr. Ralph 
Erskine wrote a book of considerable length and un- 
doubted ability, entitled 6 Faith no Fancy, or a Treatise 
of Mental Images.' " This publication " has been ce- 
lebrated as not only comparatively moderate, but as dis- 
playing an extraordinary degree of metaphysical acute- 
ness. Some quick-sighted readers have found in it the 
principles on which Dr. Reid afterwards built his system 
of the philosophy of the human mind ; but whether 
they are really there or not, may be matter of some 
doubt. To find them out, it is necessary that the book 
be well understood ; and it is not every where level to 
mere ordinary capacities "* 

Though the work at Cambuslang, and several other 
villages in the west of Scotland, was tarnished by some 
glaring improprieties, and though its zealous promoters 
injudiciously employed it as a conclusive argument 
against the whole cause of the Secession, we deeply re- 
gret the sweeping condemnatory sentence passed on 
that work by the act of the Associate Presbytery, July 
15, 1742, and the vehement expressions regarding it 
and its friends, that occur in various pamphlets and 
sermons, published by individual members of the Pres- 



* Ch. Reposit. vol. v. p. 169. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



351 



bytery. * We have reason to believe that the violence 
then discovered, has not only been sincerely deplored 
by their successors in office, but that they themselves 
lived to repent of the rancour into which the heat of 
controversy had at first betrayed them. The Reverend 
Mr. Fisher, we know, was accustomed to say to his 
brethren, that had he been aware of the distinguished 
worth of Mr. Edwards of Northampton, he would have 
treated him in his " Review" with much greater respect. 
A surviving nephew of the Rev. Adam Gibb, too, has 
told us the following anecdote : When his uncle, in ad- 
vanced life, made him a present of his " Sacred Contem- 
plations," he alluded to the pamphlet against Mr. 
Whitefield, he had given him many years before, add- 
ing that he had never read it. Mr. Gibb replied, that 
he wished no copies of that pamphlet were on the face 
of the earth, and that if he knew by what means he 
could recal them, he would collect every copy and 
burn them ; for " my blood," said he, " at that time, 
was too hot, and I was unable to write with becoming 
temper." 

It is fair at the same time, to state, that, despite of the 
sad indiscretions into which the members of the Asso- 
ciate Presbytery themselves were hurried by the force 
of intemperate zeal, as well as the powerful obstacles to 
their success arising from the efforts of Mr. Whitefield 
with his coadjutors and admirers, the interest of the Se- 
cession continued to prosper. Its members were, in 

* Among these objectionable passages are included a number 
in Mr. Erskine's writings, as in the pamphlet styled Fraud and 
Falsehood Detected, and in Sermons he preached at different 
places in the year 1742, particularly those on Luke xxii. 31, 32, 
Heb. xiii. 8 5 Rev. v. 9. 



352 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



general, an intelligent and steady people, cordially at- 
tached to the Westminster Confession, and the Pres- 
byterian form of government, and not apt to be car- 
ried away by every wind of doctrine, or imposed on 
by specious arguments and flaming appearances. They 
clung to their profession and their ministers in the hour 
of trial, and their numbers increased. Mr. Erskine vin- 
dicates their character in these terms : — " How it may 
stand with some that choose to be our hearers, and at- 
tend our meetings for worship, but are not formally 
under our inspection, we cannot be supposed to know. 
But as to the generality of those that are judicially 
received by us, they are well known to be a number of 
the most judicious, knowing, sober, serious, and praying 
people in Scotland."* Their steadfast adherence to 
the cause in which they had embarked, and the general 
prosperity of that cause amid the formidable opposition 
it met with, are certified by the same author in the fol- 
lowing passage, introduced by him to repel a prevailing 
allegation to their disadvantage. 

" The unbiassed regard of the Associate Presbytery 
to the cause of reformation among their hands, appears 
even in a special circumstance, wherein yet they are 
reproached, as if they were now appearing against Mr. 
Whitefield and his extraordinary work, because the 
success and spreading influence of it tends (say they) 
to make our interest among the people to sink, and to 
draw them away from us ; whereas Mr. Whitefield was 
cast off by the unanimous consent of the brethren of 
the Presbytery, whenever they found his direct opposi- 
tion to that cause. And this was done at his first 

* Faith no Fancy, p. 351. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



353 



coming to Scotland ; and so before ever they knew 
what sort of success his ministrations could have here, 
and when at the same time they knew what splendid 
reports there were of his wonderful success abroad ; yet 
they durst lay none of these things in balance with the 
public cause among their hands, which they were sure 
was the cause of God, or with the ancient work of re- 
formation they were appearing for, which they were 
sure was the work of God ; and that therefore no new 
work that men were attempting to raise upon the ruins 
of it, could be the work of God. Meantime none of the 
promoters of the present applauded work have much 
ground to boast of any victory gained or advantage 
obtained against us. It has pleased the Lord to " keep" 
these hitherto " in the hour of temptation," who were 
desirous and concerned to " keep the word of his pa- 
tience," and to increase our congregations from time to 
time, notwithstanding these extraordinary efforts of the 
enemy against us."* 

Amid the religious controversies that prevailed in 
Scotland during the early years of the Secession church, 
the British empire was involved in the calamities of a 
foreign war ; and to these, in 1745, were added the hor- 
rors of an internal Rebellion. In this critical conjunc- 
ture, the ministers and members of that church fully dis- 
proved the rash charges of disloyalty which some of 
their opponents had brought against them, by mani- 
festing a universal and decided attachment to the House 
of Hanover, in opposition to the daring attempt then a 
second time made by the family of Stuart to regain the 



s Faith no Fancy^ p. 351. 



354 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



British throne. We have seen the distinguished pa- 
triotism and courage displayed by the Rev. Ebenezer 
Erskine at a time of great peril and annoyance at Stir- 
ling, in consequence of that ancient town being taken 
possession of by the Highland army.* His brother 
Ralph, though perhaps not placed in circumstances of 
equal danger, discovered the same loyal principles ; 
and did not fail, during the progress and after the sup- 
pression of this rebellion, conformably to his conduct in 
1715, to address instructions and counsels to his hearers, 
happily adapted to the interesting occasion . 

In a sacramental exhortation to his people, August 
11, 1745, about three weeks after Charles had landed 
in one of the north-west isles, after having preached 
on Col. iii. 3, " Your life is hid with Christ in God," 
he alludes to the bloodshed that might possibly arise 
from that occurrence, saying, " We know not how soon 
the lives of thousands may be a prey to the devouring 
sword," and then encourages the godly, amidst all possi- 
ble dangers, to repose their confidence in their heavenly 
Father.f A sermon delivered at Glasgow, from Is. 
xlv. 2, July 21, 1746, being the Monday after the cele- 
bration of the Lord's Supper, contains the following 
sentence : " God hath delivered us from the dreadful 
disturbance that was in this country by a wicked insur- 
rection"! On August 10th that year, in a discourse 
preached to his own people immediately before the ad- 
ministration of the same ordinance, on " the pure and 
precious blood of Christ for the cleansing of polluted sin- 

* Life of Eben. Erskine, ch. fx. Pp. 437—446. 

Works, vol. ii. p. 251, 
+ Ibid. vol. ii. p. 268. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



355 



ners," he alludes, near the close, to the pretended puri- 
fications of the church of Rome, purgatory, human 
merit, and holy water, and then exclaims, in the lan- 
guage of gratitude, 6i Glory to God that this late Popish 
insurrection, as well as the former one in our day, is 
quelled, that sought the introduction of such anti- 
christian abominations."* We find that on December 
24, 1745, he kept a fast with his people on account of 
the rebellion, appointed by the Presbytery to be held 
that day, and that in a thanksgiving sermon, preached 
at Falkirk, May 12, 1746, from 1 Sam. vii. 12, " Hither- 
to hath the Lord helped us," he insisted particularly on 
the suppression of that unnatural rebellion, and the va- 
rious circumstances which united to enhance the de- 
liverance vouchsafed. 

It will gratify the pious reader to see the following 
memorandum, describing the happy consequences of the 
Duke of Cumberland's arrival, and illustrating the Divine 
agency in this merciful deliverance. Though contained 
in one of his note-books, it is not introduced as part 
of a sermon : 

" Feb. 1, 1746 Being Saturday, Prince William. 

our king's son, having come to Edinburgh on Wednes- 
day, went out with a great army on Friday towards the 
enemy, that were lying about Stirling and St. Ninian's. 
But this morning, the rebels, being filled with fear, 
hasted over the Forth, and fled ; but before they went 
all off, they blew up their magazine, that was placed in 
a church (they say) at St. Ninian's, which made all the 
country round to shake, even the length of this place. 

« Some things are remarkable in this present deliver- 



* Ibid. vol. ii. p. 277- 



356 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



ance that God has wrought for us from the robber and 
spoiler of the country. 1st, The present deliverance is 
in such a way as teaches us not to trust in an arm of 
flesh, nor in our sword and battle-axes. For there 
have been two battles in the country, and in both of 
them the enemv has still boasted of victory ; which, 
indeed, has been obtained by them in a great measure, 
partly through the fraudulent unfair method of the 
enemy, never venturing a fair battle, but in a guileful 
way, and partly through the treachery and villainy of 
the officers and commander in the armies we were ready 
to depend upon. But herein God has been giving us, 
and our king and government, a lesson not to trust in 
their armies, and officers, and generals, that can swear 
fealtv and fidelity to them, and yet betray them. It 
will be good, if our king and court could see the hand 
of God herein, and come to understand who are their 
best friends, and who not ; and that they are not all to 
be trusted as friends to the government, that can swal- 
low down oaths to the government. 2dly, The present 
deliverance is in such a way as teaches us to trust only 
in the arm of the Lord; for it is he that has dispersed 
the enemy, as he did in the days of Gideon (Judg.vii. 20,) 
when Israel were delivered from the Midianites, not 
with the edge of Gideon's sword slaying them, but with 
the cry of Gideon's sword, that frighted them. For the 
cry was, ' The sword of the Lord and of Gideon.' 
Why ? What did Gideon ? He had only the name of 
the general, the name of the victory. He did not draw 
a sword, but only blew a trumpet, and broke some 
empty pitchers with flaming lamps, or burning torches 
in them, and caused [his soldiers] cry, ' the sword of 
the Lord and of Gideon.' The sword of the Lord was 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKTNE. 



357 



a victorious sword ; it was just God himself making a 
sword of fear and terror run through the heart of the 
Midianitish host, and making them flee for their lives, 
that so the victory might not be ascribed to Gideon's 
sword, but to the sword of the Lord. Even so in the 
present providence relating to the dispersion of the 
Highland host, and Jacobite antichristian faction, God 
has made a cry reach the ears of that rebellious multi- 
tude ; saying in effect, 6 The sword of the Lord, and of 
Prince William.' The Prince has the name as an in- 
strument, but God has the praise as the agent. For 
what did the Prince ? He needed not to draw his sword, 
nor in this dispersion did he do it. He was only in the 
way of duty, and in motion towards the enemy ; but 
God went before him, and did all the work himself, by 
drawing his sword of fear and terror, and running it 
through the heart of the enemy, and thus put them to 
flight in confusion. Now, when such a cry has been 
heard in effect by the enemy, as that of the sword of the 
Lord, and of the Prince, it contributes more to the 
honour of Gocl and of the Prince too, than if there had 
been a bloody battle, and the enemy had been cut off 
and destroyed. It is even more for the honour of the 
Prince ; for it says, that God has made the fear and 
dread of him to seize the enemies, so that they dare not 
face him. God has made him terrible to his enemies, 
more than an army with banners. Besides, what an 
honour is it that God, as the Breaker, should go up be- 
fore him victoriously, and give him no more ado than 
pursue the victory. Instruments are not the less ho- 
noured, but the more, that God uses them in a way 
whereby all the praise and glory evidently redounds to 
himself. O that hence we could learn to trust in the 

Q 



.358 



LIFE A.ND DIARY OF 



Lord, and not in our arms or armies. Psalm xliv. 1 — 8, 
Hos. i. 7, 

" Meantime let us be humbled for the sins that 
brought us in this land so much under the feet of the 
antichristian adversary, and particularly those sins that 
have been evidently written upon the judgment ; as not 
only in general the contempt of the Gospel, which God 
has been threatening to remove, but also, more par- 
ticularly, for our forgetfulness and ingratitude in the 
following respects : 1st, One sin written upon this late 
judgment, is that of forgetting and neglecting to be 
humbled for the dishonour done to God in this land by 
the abominations committed by that race of kings, by 
whose posterity (whether spurious or not) God has 
been smiting us, and putting us in remembrance there- 
of/' [After an ample review of these abominations, he 
thus continues:] " 2dly, Another sin written upon our 
judgment, is our ingratitude for our deliverance by a 
merciful Revolution from that wicked and cursed race, 
and from the miseries they brought upon us, as also 
for our deliverance from the many attempts made by 
them since that time to bring us again under the do- 
minion of Popery and tyranny ; particularly these four. 
1. In the year 1708, when an invasion was threatened, 
and the Lord mercifully delivered. 2. In the year 
1715, when an unnatural rebellion was raised by the 
same antichristian party with then Highland host, which 
the Lord also defeated. 3. In the year 1 744, but about 
two years ago, when an invasion was again threatened 
and carried some length, till the Lord i broke the ships 
of Tarshish with an east wind' upon the day when the 
Associate brethren were setting that same time apart 
for fasting and humiliation with reference thereto. 4. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



359 



Now again in this year 1746, after the Lord has been 
for some months punishing the land with an insurrec- 
tion of that same antichristian crew, robbing and plun- 
dering the land, the Lord has been pleased yesterday 
to begin a new deliverance and dispersion of the enemy 
by the instrumentality of the king's son, Prince William, 
come down to head the army. If by these judgments, 
and these mercies and deliverances, we will not be re- 
formed, if we will not return to the Lord but remain 
unthankful, may he not punish us yei seven times more?" 
Ezra ix. 13, 14. 

The striking deliverance to which these remarks 
chiefly refer, made so deep an impression on the writer, 
that it influenced his imagination during the slumbers 
of the night. Without meaning to countenance that 
species of superstition, by which unwarrantable im- 
portance is attached to the dreams and visions of mo- 
dern times, we may here copy a curious paragraph, 
which immediately follows, in the same manuscript. 

" In a dream after this, I spoke thus to the Prince : 
' May it please your royal highness, I have, during the 
years of my ministry in Dunfermline, seen and been 
witness to two wicked, horrid, and unnatural rebellions, 
at the distance and interval of thirty years from each 
other, the one raised against your royal grandfather in 
the year 1715, the other now against your royal father. 
When the former took place, I had occasion to evi- 
dence my loyalty, at the peril of my life, by praying in 
express terms for King George, within pistol-shot of the 
enemy entering the church in arms, even after I was in- 
terdicted and discharged by them to pray in these terms.* 

* This instance of sacred heroism, though here referred to in 
a dream, is in all probability, founded in fact. 



360 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



Yet now the hazard I did then run, and was ready at this 
time again to run, I think abundantly rewarded and 
compensated by my having the honour to see your royal 
highness, and congratulate you as the darling of the 
nation, and the terror and dread of the rebellious Jaco- 
bite crew that have so long been oppressing this land, 
till your highness came, through favour of the Most 
High, to be our deliverer. 

" Though it is my present lot to be one of the mi- 
nisters of Scotland that are known bv the name of 

t/ 

SecederSy yet I reckon it my advantage that I and all 
my brethren of the Secession have their congregations 
made up of such members as are all and every one of 
them loyal subjects to King George your royal father, 
and that they are such as cannot be enemies to a Pro- 
testant government, because our Secession stands main- 
ly upon the footing of our close adherence to the co- 
venanted Reformation, wherein Popery, in a special 
manner, is abjured ; so that it is impossible, in the na- 
ture of the thing, and from our professed principles, 
that a Seceder can be either a Papist or a Jacobite. 

" May it please your highness, it were unsuitable to 
my character as a minister of Christ, who is our king 
eternal and immortal, to be a flatterer of any mortal 
man. Therefore I only add, that as it is the great 
God that has put such honour upon you as to make 
your very name amiable to your friends and terrible to 
your enemies, so, if you put honour upon God, and 
give him all the glory, he will honour you more and 
more ; for he has said in his holy oracles, 6 Him that 
honoureth me I will honour/ " 

To this visionary but sensible address, he subjoins in 
his note-book the following lines on the Duke of Cum- 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



361 



berland's enterprize, taken " out of the Edinburgh 
Courant, Feb. 18, 1746." 

Scarce had the hapless news of Falkirk's day 
To Britain's sacred monarch winged their way, 
"When his young Harry mounts the rapid car, 
To save his country, or her fate to share. 
Intent on this, he very late defies 
The rigid journey, and more rigid skies ; 
And, what with wonder latest times shall hear, 
liaised Stirling's siege, before we thought him there," 

The entire unanimity that prevailed among the minis- 
ters and members of the Secession Church, with refer- 
ence to the cause of the House of Hanover, could not 
ensure their perfect concord on every other point. An 
esteemed historian, when treating of the diversity of 
sentiment, which, in the seventh century, took place 
betwixt Paulinus and Aidan, who were equally zealous 
for the propagation of the gospel, has justly observed, 
that " the craft of Satan too commonly succeeds in fo- 
menting divisions even among those who, with equal 
sincerity, are engaged in the best of causes."* The 
truth of this remark was sadly verified in the mournful 
rupture which, in April 1747, divided and dishonoured 
the Associate Synod. 

It is not our design to detail at large the particulars 
of that event ; nor would it be proper, by a minute re- 
hearsal of the hostile measures or unpleasant altercations 
of the two contending parties, to revive the recollection 
of many painful circumstances, which the re-union 



* Milner's Hist, of the Church, vol. iiL p. 1 10. 4th edit. 



362 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



happily accomplished in the year 1820, is calculated 
for ever to obliterate. Yet, to state a few facts relative 
to the conduct and sufferings of the subject of this me- 
moir on that afflicting occasion, appears neither un- 
necessary nor inexpedient. The impartiality essential 
to a biographical narrative, may oblige the pen to record 
what the unfettered inclination of the writer might have 
induced him to suppress. When past occurrences are 
of such a description, that their consignment to absolute 
oblivion is utterly impracticable, it seems better to give 
a correct account of them, than by a total silence, to 
countenance erroneous and mischievous traditions. 

Among all the ministers concerned in this contest, 
no one exerted himself with greater activity than Mr. 
Erskine, in supporting what he deemed the right side 
of the question, and no one certainly drank more deeply 
than he of the cup of bitterness, at that time mingled by 
an inscrutable providence. Firmly persuaded that it 
was not unlawful, nor inconsistent with his profession, 
on the part of any seceder, to take the burgess-oath,, 
even where it included that religious clause which was 
the subject of dispute, he boldly defended this opinion 
" in the course of the debate relative thereto, at the 
several meetings of Synod before the breach and, in 
consequence, he was singled out to be the foremost of 
the first three to whom ecclesiastical censure was ad- 
ministered by those brethren who held contrary senti- 
ments on the question at issue.* When the Presbytery 
of Dunfermline, at their meeting at Perth, May 5th, 

* Proceedings of the Associate Synod at Edinburgh, in April 
and August 1749, and in Feb. 1750, upon the case of the sepa- 
rating brethren, &c" Minutes for Aug. 3, 9. 10, 1749. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSK1NE. 



363 



1747, thought proper judicially to exclude him, with 
some other members, and to cancel their names from 
the roll, because they refused submission to the autho- 
rity of " the Synod, which met in Mr. Gibb's house 
the 10th of April," he addressed the Moderator in a 
speech to this effect :— 

" I got my ministry from our Lord Jesus Christ 
himself according to his own appointment, and in an 
agreeableness to his word ; and however unworthy I 
have been of it, and unfit and unfaithful in the due dis- 
charge of the duties of it ; yet I dare not deny that he 
has many^ many times ow r ned me in it, and appended 
many seals unto it from time to time. And, therefore, 
I dare not lay it down at the feet of any body of men 
on earth, that may presume to rob me of it."* 

It particularly grieved him that the Rev. John Ersldne 
of Leslie, his second son, though at the first moment 
of the breach in April 1747 he espoused the same side 
with his father, was induced soon after to change his 
purpose, and decidedly to attach himself to the opposite 
party. This difference of sentiment betwixt relatives so 
near, was unquestionably the source of much unhappi- 
ness to each. John, it appears, took part in the judicial 
act of the Presbytery at Perth, just referred to, which 
his father witnessed, he himself states, « with a sorrowful 
heart."f Speaking of John, in a letter to his elder 
brother Henry, bearing date May 9, 1747, the vener- 
able parent says, " He there sat with the Presbytery, 

* e< Narrative of the separation of the majority of members 
from the Associate Presbytery of Dunfermline at Perth, May 
5, 1747." Pp. 8, 9. 

t Ibid. p. 49. 



364 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



which exauctorated me and you, and all the true lawful 
Synod." " You may be sure," he adds, " it was as a 
sword piercing my heart, to see that Johnny was sitting 
in the midst of them." On learning that this son had 
subsequently concurred with his associates in voting for 
the infliction of a higher censure, he wrote him a serious 
letter, expressing his extreme sorrow on that account, 
and observing that no court ought to have asked a vote 
of that nature from so near a relative ; that, though asked, 
it should not have been given ; that he had dishonoured 
his father ; and, as he might see from the fifth command- 
ment, had taken the way to shorten his own life. 

It would be wrong, however, to question the correct- 
ness of a statement made by a very respectable writer, 
that " it has been asserted that his father, however much 
irritated, acknowledged his persuasion that ' what John 
did, was from conscience.' "* We have found, among 
Mr. Erskine's papers, a summary peuned by himself of 
a reply John had written to him on that occasion, in 
which he attempts to vindicate the course he had cho- 
sen, and represents it as proceeding not from hatred or 
disrespect but from love. " I desire through grace," 
says he, " to offer up earnest prayers and supplications 
for you, and that he may do for you for his name's 
sake ; and I am persuaded that this is the case with my 
brethren also." This expression reminds us of the follow- 
ing anecdote transmitted by domestic tradition. Some 
time after the breach, John having made a visit to Dun- 
fermline, was employed to conduct the devotions of the 
family, and, alluding to the head of the house, prayed 

* Remarks on the Rev. Rowland Hill's Journal by Dr. Johu 
Jamieson, p. 26. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



365 



" that the Lord would restore him to his former useful- 
ness." At the close of the service, his father took the 
liberty to ask him this question, " In what respect am 1 
less useful now than I have formerly been ?'' But John 
had not the courage to make any reply. 

The unhappy transaction now referred to, supplies 
one of the many instances in which false or exaggerated 
rumours relating to mournful occurrences, have gained 
a wide and protracted circulation. In some quarters it 
appears to be still reported and believed, that John 
Erskine was employed by the Synod to which he be- 
longed to pronounce an awful sentence against his own 
father. A very worthy clergyman from London having 
heard this report during a tour in Scotland about the 
year 1798, thought proper to record it in a published 
Journal of that Tour. But the whole affair is placed 
in its true light by the learned author mentioned above, 
in his letter to that celebrated clergyman. It will suf- 
fice to quote the few following sentences, in which the 
writer's accuracy and candour are equally apparent : — 

" You next proceed to the consideration of the ex- 
communication of those who adhered to the burgess- 
oath. Here it may be necessary to observe, that an ap- 
probation of this deed has never been made a term 
either of Christian or of ministerial communion. Those 
who inflicted this censure acted, I am persuaded, ac- 
cording to their light. But there is ground to believe 
that the generality of those who succeeded them would 
not have gone so far. There is no reason, however, 
for heightening the picture by the addition of circum- 
stances that never had any real existence. The ampu- 
tation knife was not committed into the hand of Mr. 
John Erskine — Instead of employing Mr. John Er- 



366 



LIFE AND DIARY CF 



skine to pronounce or intimate the sentence either as to 
his father or uncle, he was not employed in any case what- 
ever. The sentence against three of the separating 
brethren, of whom Mr. Ralph Erskine was one, was 
pronounced at Edinburgh, Aug. 10, 1749, by Mr. 
George Brown, moderator, and afterwards intimated at 
Dunfermline, where Mr. Erskine was minister, by Mr. 
Adam Gibb, according to appointment. (Proceedings of 
Synod," Pp. 48-50.)* 

Mr. Erskine's views respecting this melancholy 
breach are amply expressed in an elaborate sermon 
preached at the opening of the Associate Synod at 
Stirling, April 12, 1748, and published at their request. 
At the conclusion of this discourse, which is founded on 
John ii. 19, and entitled " Temple desolation making 
way for temple restoration/'f after noticing the methods 
by which men had been suffered so far to demolish the 
temple of the Associate body, he inquires into the sin- 
ful causes that had provoked God to order such a rent 
and destruction of the temple. The native candour of 
his mind appears in his illustrations of those causes of 
the divine anger, as in the following passage regarding 
the culpable harshness shown to worthy brethren who 
retained their connexion with the national church : 

" 2. Untenderness towards these we left in the judi- 
catories, when we made secession from them, without 
dealing more kindly with them, praying more for them, 
and bearing more with them ; especially such as were 
friends to the same reformation cause, though not en- 
lightened in the same manner of witnessing for it. 

* Remarks on the Rev. R. Hill's Journal, Pp. 24—28. 
t Works, vol. ii. Pp. 317—329. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKTNE. 



367 



Some began too soon to severities ; even in excluding 
such from their communion, which tended to restrain 
and keep them back from us. Though we began with 
some moderation towards them, yet through unstead- 
fastness in standing to our first resolution, many pro- 
ceeded soon to such heights as could not in the issue 
but terminate in a downfal. If in this respect the bond 
of brotherly love was too soon broken, the Lord is 
righteous in ordering such a breach among us as threat- 
ens the destruction of this temple, and to make them 
read their sin in their punishment. It is true, though all 
of us were not equally chargeable this way, yet we have 
been too indulgent to such as were so, and therefore 
cannot purge ourselves * 

In the unhappy controversy relating to the burgess- 
oath, Ralph Erskine wrote a greater number of pam- 
phlets than any other member of the Synod to which he 
adhered.f That they are entirely exempt from that 
unhallowed bitterness, which stained almost all the pub- 
lications put forth on each side, amid the keen agitation 
of the question, we will not pretend. An impartial 
reader, however, will allow, that they display conscien- 
tious views and feelings, as well as great acuteness and 
ability, and that his mind was deeply grieved for the 

* Ibid. p. 324. 

•f The Narrative of tiie Separation, &c. ; The Lawfulness of 
the Religious Clause of some hurgess-oaths asserted, &c. ; Fancy 
no Faith, or a Seasonable Admonition and Information to Se- 
ceders ; Observations upon the conduct of the separating bre- 
thren, with Fancy still no Faith ; Third Proof of Fancy no Faith, 
in three parts, with a Fourth Proof of Fancy no Faith ; A Re- 
view of Mr. Gibb's Remarks against the Synodical Fast, June 
2d, 1748 ; with one or two other small tracts. 



368 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



mournful occasion of writing. " Our author's pen,* 
says a valuable biographer, " was much engaged in this 
affair, and it evidently affected his spirits. He speaks 
of it with concern and emotion."* 

Yet the rich consolations of the gospel, and the re- 
collection of past experiences of the divine loving-kind- 
ness, served to moderate the anguish of his spirit, and 
to inspire him with confidence and hope. Information 
of the severest part of the procedure adopted against 
him, happened to reach his ear on the morning of August 
14, 1749, being the Monday after the celebration of 
the Lord's Supper at Kinross, where he was assisting. 
In the course of his sermon that day, " the thoughts" 
of that dismal intelligence at one time " oppressed his 
mind, and his speech began to falter ; but lifting up his 
eyes," the service being performed in the open air, " the 
mountains of Portmoak were full in his view, and these 
words of David came with refreshing energy into his 
mind, Ps. xlii. 6, 6 O my God, my soul is cast down 
within me, therefore will I remember thee from the 
land of Jordan and of the Hermonites, and from the 
hill Mizar.' The words of the sacred ode, and the 
prospect of a place endeared by the peculiar manifesta- 
tions of heaven, calmed his troubled soul, and he went 
through his work with his usual animation." f 

The following extract of a letter to his son Henry, 
referred to above, serves also to show in what way he 
sought and obtained consolation under the pressure of 
grief :— 

* Middleton's Evangelical Biography, vol. iv. p. 282. 
f Portmoak MS. on the Life and Ministry of Rev. Eben-» 
Erskine, p. 24. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSK1NE. 



369 



" You sympathise with me, as I desire to sympathise 
with you in our present perplexities. It is good our 
Lord and Master is always the same yesterday, to day, 
and for ever. Let us bear his indignation, because we 
have sinned against him, till he arise and plead our cause, 
and let us be confident in him, and trust in him, though 

he should slay us.- — God is trying us, but when he 

has tried, we shall come forth as gold. Let us say, 
Lord is it I that have raised this storm of wrath ? but 
let us hope, that in due time he will lay the storm with 
a word, and make darkness light, and crooked things 
straight. .< Turn us again, O Lord God of hosts, and 
cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved.' May 
the Lord be with you and us, and we shall fear no evil, 
when going through this dark valley." 

From his note- books, written about this time, it ap- 
pears that he exerted himself with great diligence in 
administering instruction, counsel, and encouragement 
to his people, under the perplexities and temptations 
occasioned by the breach. He strenuously exhorted 
them to prove all things ; to love the truth and peace ; 
to pray fervently for themselves and for all concerned, 
whatever views they had embraced ; to pray for the 
restoration of unity ; to beware of stumbling at the word 
in a cloudy and dark day ; to seek communion with God 
and his people in public and private ordinances ; and to 
hope in his mercy. " Let not your heart sink in the 
deep," said he, 44 but swim ashore ; or rather stand still 
and see the salvation of God, making the deeps of the 
sea a way for the ransomed to pass over. He makes 
the clouds, even the darkest clouds, his chariot, wherein 
he rides for the help of his people. When you walk in 



370 LIFE AND DIARY OF 

darkness, you are to trust ; and when you walk in the 
deep, you are to believe what God is to do for you, and 
for his people that follow after righteousness, and in 
due time you shall see the salvation of God. Expect a 
cup of comfort, after you have drunk of the cup of 
trembling." 

None of his sermons, perhaps, are more pleasant and 
animating than several of those he preached posterior 
to that deplorable rent, and within five years of his death. 
Such are the five sermons delivered at Dunfermline at 
five successive sacramental solemnities, the subjects of 
which are John xvi. 15, chap. xvi. 32, Song. ii. 3, ch. 
ii. 8, ch. ii. 13.* The same cheering and lively strain 
is discernible in the discourses which during that period 
he preached in other places, as at Glasgow Oct. 4, 1747 
from Rom. vim. 28. ; at Kinross, at the time above spe- 
cified, from Rom. viii. 37 ; and at Falkirk, May 20, 
1720, from Luke xix. 5.f 

His vigour and activity seem to have undergone little 
or no abatement. Not only at home but abroad, and 
even in places considerably distant, he went through a 
variety of interesting services. We find him, as men- 
tioned in a preceding chapter, presiding at Mr. Swan- 
ston's ordination in summer 1748 ; preaching under 
trying circumstances in the vicinity of Perth in March 
that year; assisting in the services of the Lord's Supper 
at Dundee in Oct 1749; and on his way home from 
that town preaching from 1 Cor. i. 30, on a week-day 
at Auchtermuchty. He gave his valued assistance also 
to the Rev. William Hutton of Dalkeith in administer- 

* Works, vol. ii. 

f These sermons are also published, ibid. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



371 



ing the same ordinance in the year 1751, when a great 
multitude of Christians were assembled, to whom he 
preached an impressive discourse from these words, 
" Who against hope believed in hope." In the year 
1748 he had performed a similar act of friendship for 
the Rev. John Smith, then of Jedburgh, as appears from 
the following extract of a letter to that excellent minis- 
ter, shown us by a friend : 

"Dunfermline Sep. 1, 1748. 

R. D. B. 

. " Your's dated Aug. 22d, I received only 
this evening ; in answer to which, I have a design, if 
the Lord will, to essay the journey you propose in order 
to attend the sacramental solemnity you have in view 

I shall not say, to fulfil each of the diets you 

mention, which, after such a journey, may perhaps prove 
too much work for me. 1 had no line from Sir Robert 
Pringle ; however, I design not to decline preaching at 
Stitchell for once, if providence permit. 

" Dear brother, as to the trial some people design to 
make, whether the Lord has left us or not, their judg- 
ment needs perhaps be little regarded. But, however 
this be, our God is sovereign in his coming and going ; 
we cannot limit him to our times; he will do all his 
pleasure and take his own time and way. < Even so, 
Father, for so it seemeth good in thy sight/ He was 
pleased to smile remarkably here, and to show himself 
the God of Bethel as much as ever, if not more, as manv 
found to their experience. And no doubt there is as 
much need of his gracious presence among you, which 
I hope it shall be the desire of my soul he may vouch- 
safe. 



372 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



" Dear brother, I have good reason to sympathise 

with you in these sufferings wherein I myself 

am a partaker to a very great degree. I am glad you 
have got such a good number of elders ordained. May 
it be a token for good that the wall shall be built even 
in troublous times, and that the Lord will own and 
countenance you in the solemn work you have in view. 
My wife and family salute you kindly, and I remain, 
R. D. B. Yours very affectionately, 

Ralph Erskine 

The above notices of Mr. Erskine's active and useful 
exertions during the years of his life posterior to the 
breach appeared the more necessary and seasonable, be- 
cause, strange to tell ! from prejudice or some other 
cause, attempts are still being made to uphold and pro- 
pagate the groundless notion, that after that deplorable 
occurrence, the Erskines lost the divine countenance, 
and became almost utterly useless.* 

* We allude especially to some passages in the account (highly 
favourable to a great extent) of the Rev. Ebenezer Erskine, 
lately published in Chalmers' Lives of Illustrious and Distin- 
guished Scotchmen, Pp. 219 — 236. A considerable portion of 
that account is evidently copied from Struthers' History of Scot- 
land. The writer, while he censures the conduct of the minis- 
ters on both sides in reference to the breach 17-17, avows his pre- 
dilection for that class which " met in Mr. Gibb's house," and 
represents the opposite party as the least enlightened of the two, 
the most irregular in their procedure, and the least penitent for 
their faults. Ebenezer Erskine in particular, is loaded with a 
most disproportionate and unmerited share of odium. It is af- 
firmed of him too, that after this c< he abated considerably of his 
zeal for the principles of the Reformation," and a was engaged 
in nothing of public importance." This author , it may be al- 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



373 



It may be deemed somewhat remarkable, that though 
three of Ralph's sons followed their father's profession, 
and proved acceptable preachers, no one of them was 
appointed his colleague or assistant. The very nume- 
rous and widely scattered congregation of which, after 
ceasing to belong to the national church, he had the 
exclusive charge, would, from the first, have required 
the ministrations of two pastors ; and the approaching 
infirmities of age soon gave him a powerful claim to all 
that aid and comfort which an effective and attached 
fellow-labourer might have been able to administer. 
His generosity, however, led him to consider the neces- 
sities of many other congregations, which the Associate 
Synod had scarcely the means of supplying to their full 
extent ; and his principles would not have allowed him 
to obtrude upon his people the services of any young 
man, however closely related and dear to himself, who 
was not the object of their own free and unbiassed 
choice. Yet the fact is, that James, his third son, who 
was licensed in the year 1750, received an unanimous 
call to be his father's colleague and successor, and that 
the Synod's appointing him to Stirling instead of Dun- 
fermline was a painful disappointment both to father 
and son ; as appears from three letters, part of which is 
still extant ; one from Mr. Erskine to his son Henry, 
a second from James to his father, and a third from 
James to Mr. Fisher. 

In the first of these, which is of date, " Dunfermline, 
April 20, 1751," a few weeks after the Synod's deci- 

lowed, writes in accordance with his own views and preposses- 
sions. It is but a small proportion, however, we trust, of the re- 
ligious public, that will acquiesce without inquiry in statements, 
to say the least, so obviously questionable. 



374 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



sion in this cause. Mr. Erskine expresses himself as 
follows : — 

u My dear Harry. James, I expect, will be 

with you on Monday, and here with us on Tuesday. 
I am glad you are more and more confirmed in the 
opinion that he ought not to accept of the call to Stir- 
ling, but that Dunfermline is the place that ought to 
have him. I acknowledge that this is also more and 
more my mind. Seeing God has put it in the heart of 
tins people so unanimously to call him, without being 
influenced any way by leaders, the thing seems to be of 
God ; whereas* I know the call of Stirling, as it is not 
harmonious, so it has been brought about by human 
contrivance. Besides, none can have more right to 
him in these circumstances, than I have ; and I doubt 
not but you will signify your mind to Jamie as you 
have done to me. It seems hard, on account of my 
brother's present need (wherein he may be helped in 
another way.) to stake down the poor young lad to 
what, I fear, would be a lifetime of heavy work and 
warfare, among a divided people. Your uncle Las- 
sodie, I am told, is very much displeased at the Synod, 
and thinks I should keep Jamie whether they will or not. 
However, I am for regular steps without haste, and if 
Jamie continue to be for us, we will still be for him, so 
far as I understand of our people, who continue more 
and more of that mind/' ■ 

The letter addressed by James to his father, a first 
draught of which only we have seen, as recorded by 
himself in short-hand characters, in one of his note- 
books, was also written soon after the Synod had passed 
their act, preferring the claims of Stirling to those of 
Dunfermline and Dundee, from each of which he had 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



375 



received a call.* " My mind, 5 ' says he, " is exceedingly 
perplexed anent the present circumstances in which 
matters stand with reference to me. My settlement in 
Stirling is dismal to me, when I consider the beautiful 
call from the congregation of Dunfermline, attended 
with your earnest desire to have me assisting you in 
the work of the Lord, and that that design seems to be 
frustrated in a way so dissatisfying to you, and, conse- 
quently, perplexing to me ; and that a door seems now 
to be shut against my being helpful to my dearest 
father. It grieves me to the heart, when I reflect on 
the petition not being delivered in to the Synod, as was 
designed, and that on that account, as I have heard, 
several ministers and others have said it is owing to 
myself, that the sentence was not reviewed. This tends 
much to disquiet me. If I could, in a cleanly way, 
make amends for the same, and yet get the matter before 
the Synod, I think at present I would much incline it. 
Your need of an assistant, I think is equal, if not greater 
in some respects than my uncle's ; but how to behave 
myself I know not." 

The third is a long epistle to Mr. Fisher of Glasgow, 
bearing date, " Dunfermline, 20th December 1751," 
the substance of which it will suffice to produce. He 
refers to his having delivered all his discourses for trial, 
and to the Presbytery of Glasgow having appointed 
his ordination to take place at Stirling the month fol- 
lowing ; and after alluding to the great scruples he had 
entertained and expressed, he adds : 66 My silence and 
succumbing, after Wednesday night's conversation, did 



* Records of Associate Synod, in MS. p. 1094, et seq. 



376 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



not flow from their removal, but from the great fear 1 
was put into by some strong expressions used by you 
and the rest in that conversation, and the preceding 
day." He intimates his wishes, that, if possible, the or- 
dination should yet be deferred till another meeting of 
Synod, and thus continues : " Dear Sir, as the matter 
is now come so great a length, and the day of ordina- 
tion approaching, I have been endeavouring to bring 
up my heart to a cordial compliance, and to say, ' Good 
is the will of the Lord.' " Having stated several con- 
siderations, however, by which he was still tempted to 
question the propriety of accepting the charge of Stir- 
ling congregation, he urges that, as a means of recon- 
ciling his mind to that step, the Presbytery should, at 
least, acquiesce in a proposal which his father, at his 

request, had made in a letter to Mr. Fisher, to 

pass an act of transportability in the event of certain 
circumstances taking place. " My father assures me," 
he states in conclusion, " that he is so far mortified and 
denied to what was his wish and inclination, that for 
edification's sake, and for preventing public speculation 
unfavourable towards the judicial decisions of our court, 
which he has no will should come under universal con- 
tempt, he therefore would choose the going on of my 
settlement in Stirling in the above manner rather than 
the proposed delay ; and to this I also gave my con- 
sent. The soreness of my father's eyes, which 

hinders him from studying, is the reason of my being 
here the two last Sabbaths. Expecting your answer, 
I kindly salute you and all my cousins, and remain, 
Rev. Dear Sir, your affectionate Cousin and humble 
servant, James Erskine," 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



377 



The ordination of James at Stirling accordingly took 
place, as was elsewhere stated, on the 22d January 
1752* 

The time was now approaching when Mr. Erskine 
was to obtain a happy discharge from all the toils, and 
crosses, and sorrows of life. Blessed with a vigorous 
constitution and an active mind, he had prosecuted the 
labours of the ministry without any considerable inter- 
ruption from bodily infirmity. From his own memo- 
randa, however, it appears that he suffered some occa- 
sional ailments, and that these were devoutly improved 
as divine appointments, mercifully intended to remind 
him of his sins, and to forewarn him of his departure. 
In the following entry, he gives an account of his exer- 
cise under an affliction he was suddenly seized with, 
when attending a meeting of the Commission in Edin- 
burgh : 

" Sabbath, Jlarch 18, 1733. — This morning, before 
I arose out of bed, I took a great pain in my right 
shoulder, which hindered me for a considerable time to 
move myself by turning to one side or the other. I 
sent for my nephew George Balderston. who advised to 
rub with hot cloth and with brandy, and to take a little 
blood, if it did not abate ; and I took blood about the 
middle of the day. Meantime, I found my heart fixed, 
trusting in the Lord, and I was made joyfully to bless 
the Lord that these outward changes did not in the least 
affect my state and hope. I could say in some measure, 
my heart is fixed, my hope is fixed, my peace is fixed. 
When I got time and had read and prayed, I was en- 

* Life of Ebezener Erskine, p. 455. 



378 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



abled, notwithstanding a sense of sinfulness and naugh- 
tiness, to bless the Lord with hopeful tears, that he was 
to me a promising God in Christ, and had my hope ex- 
ercised and strengthened, particularly upon the promise 
of everlasting life and of the spirit to be given to lead 
thereto, and of his watering every moment ; also upon 
the promise of his blessing to my wife and children. I 
was made to commit them to the Lord, and to leave 
them upon him according to that word, Ps. x. 14. I 
was made to roll upon him whatever had been put upon 
his name, that he would do therein whatever was most 
for the honour and glory of his name. Then I was 
made to glory in his being God, and in his being mercy 
and truth in Christ, and to express my hope and confi- 
dence in him." 

The same year, in the month of August, at Queens- 
ferry, whither he had gone to assist in administering 
the Lord's supper, he was, on the evening of Saturday 
the 11th, seized with a fit of trembling, and then with 
what he calls " a stitch that centred near my heart, 
ready to cut me at every breath." After copious bleed- 
ing, he felt somewhat relieved. He returned home on 
the Monday, and though unable to preach the next 
Sabbath, speedily recovered. " 1 mended apace," says 
he ; " the Lord be blessed for his mercy." When my 
wife and I were alone, and the rest in the church, I 
prayed with her, and \^as helped to look to a promising 
and covenanted God. I was strengthened to cast her 
and myself and the children over upon a God in Christ ; 
and with somewhat of a believing frame to take Him as 
our happiness in time and eternity, and to claim inte- 
rest in Him on the ground of the Mediator's righteous- 
ness." 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



379 



Having mentioned an inflammation in the throat 
which attacked him in June 1735. he says, " I observ- 
ed good ground the Lord had to lay his hand upon me." 
Subsequently, adverting to another complaint, he says : 

" Sabbath, Nov. 16, 1735. I was sore pained with 
a toothache, and went not out in the forenoon. I 
preached in the afternoon, and when alone, I had some 
sweet freedom in putting my name under the shadow of 
that name of the Lord that is my strong tower, and in 
seeking he might be with me till death, and in death, 
making his word my comfort and support.' 5 

When " the inevitable hour" at last arrived, it did not 
find him secure and unprepared. More than sixteen 
months before, he had been careful to " set his house in 
order f for in a letter to his eldest son, of date April 
20, 1751, he gave particular instructions with reference 
to the making of Ins testament, and the manner in which 
the moderate property he had to leave should be appor- 
tioned amongst the members of Ins family. For some 
time prior to the moment in which he was called to 
bear a part in the songs of the heavenly temple, his 
leisure had been chiefly occupied in the appropriate ex- 
ercise of composing his Scripture Songs ; and when that 
undertaking was accomplished, he seems to have had a 
presentiment of the near approach of his end. Mrs. 
Erskine having repeatedly expressed her regret that his 
close application to study deprived her so much of his 
society, he told her one day that the work he intended 
for the press was finished, and " she might soon expect 
a little more of his company for some time, but it would 
not be long till she should be deprived of it altogether."* 

* Account of R. Erskine, prefixed to the 8vo. edition of his 
Works, p. xvi. note. 



380 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



He persisted^ however, in the active discharge of du- 
ty, till he was suddenly seized with that violent distem- 
per by which he was removed to eternity, on Monday 
the 6th of November 1752. 

We have seen a letter he wrote to the Rev. Robert 
Shirra of Kirkaldy on the 23d October preceding, re- 
lative chiefly to a Memorial to be presented to the 
king's ministry respecting a business not particularly 
explained, but designated an affair of " general concern 
to all our brethren in Ireland, and the peace and quiet 
of some of his Majesty's most loyal subjects." He 
preached, it appears, with more than usual vigour on the 
second Sabbath before his departure, and his last dis- 
courses related to the comfort connected with a holy 
life, and to the hope of a blessed immortality. The texts 
were, Prov. hi. 17, " Her ways are ways of pleasantness, 
and all her paths are peace ;" and Job xix. 25, " I know 
that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the 
latter day upon the earth."* The circumstances of his 
death are briefly stated in the following communica- 
tion : — 

Letter — Mr. Er shine of Falkirk " to Mrs. Scott, spouse 
to the Rev. Mr. James Scott, minister of the Gospel 
at Gateshall." 

" My dear Cousin, 

" The Lord liveth, blessed be our 
rock. He has been pleased to visit us, in his holy Pro- 
vidence, with the very awful and smarting stroke of my 
dear father's death. He died yesterday, a quarter after 

* Account of R. Erskine, prefixed to the 8vo. ed. of his Works, 
p. xvi. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



381 



three in the afternoon, of a nervous fever, being the 
eighth day of the fever. He preached here last Sab- 
bath save one with very remarkable life and fervency. 
He spoke but little all the time, that the disease did not 
evidently appear to be present death approaching ; the 
physicians having ordered care to be taken to keep him 
quiet. But after he had taken the remarkable and sud- 
den change to the worse, which was not till Sabbath, 
he then spoke a great deal, but could not be understood. 
Only among his last words he was heard say, 6 I will 
be for ever a debtor to free grace/ 

" My brother Robert and a servant-maid in the 
house were both of them at death's door with the same 
trouble, but are now recovering. My mother desires 
your's and Mr. Scott's sympathy, and so do we all 
here. Being in haste, I only add that all here join in 
our compliments to Mr. Scott and you, and that a line 
from you, acquainting me of your welfare and family, 
will much oblige, 

" Dear Cousin, your most affectionate Cousin and 
humble servant, 

Henry Erskine." 

Dunfermline, 7th Nov. 1752" 

Little more than two months after, the same dutiful 
son wrote a kind letter to Mrs. Erskine, bearing date 
Falkirk, 15th Feb. 1753. The chief subject is the pub- 
lication of his father's works ; but he begins by express- 
ing his regret and sympathy in the following terms : — 

" Dear Mother, 

" I desire to be enabled to have a con- 
tinued sympathy and hearty condolence with you under 

B 



382 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



the very great loss we all lately suffered by my father's 
death ; which was a stroke with which you, in a pecu- 
liar manner, could not fail to be very deeply affected, 
and which will no doubt be many times as sensibly 
smarting to you as if it were a wound newly given. 
May the Lord himself be better than all things else to 
you, and teach you and us all to glorify him by turning 
to him and trusting in him, when he is smiting and 
slaying ; and may he deliver us from the sorrow of the 
world, which only worketh death. Mrs. Kay and my 
wife have likewise a most hearty and cordial sympathy 
with you." 

That so few of his dying expressions were audible or 
intelligible, was matter of general regret among those 
who knew him. Though amidst the violence of his 
trouble " he enjoyed the exercise of his judgment and 
senses," his physicians, we have seen, judged it neces- 
sary to impose restrictions on inquiring friends ; and 
" he himself complained that so few attended him at 
that time."* Owing to increased debility, when these 
restrictions were removed, he could scarcely be under- 
stood. Yet one short and pleasant sentence, uttered by 
him on the bed of death, in full accordance with the 
whole tenor of his preaching, in which the glories of free 
grace held a prominent place, has just been recorded. 
A single word more, highly expressive of a triumphant 
faith, is mentioned by the Rev. Mr. Whitefield in a 
sermon from Isaiah lx. 19, where, when repeating the 
last expressions of several dying Christians, he says, 
" Thus died Mr. Ralph Erskine. His last words were, 



* Account prefixed to his Works, in Svo. p. xvii. 



THE REV. RALPH EESKJNE. 



♦ Victory, victory, victory 1' " With regard to the ex- 
tent to which pious ministers or other Christians are 
enabled on a death-bed to impart verbal instructions 
and advices to survivors, the wisdom and sovereignty of 
Providence must be adored ; and if by their previous 
conversation and deportment in the course of their 
lives, they have borne ample testimony to the truth 
and importance of religion, we have powerful motives 
to submission, when it so happens that the words they 
utter, amidst the infirmities and agonies of dissolving 
nature, cannot easily be heard or understood. The 
comparative silence of this distinguished man was nei- 
ther total nor final. Still his ;,/ works praise him in the 
gates,''' or rather praise the glorious Master whom he 
served ; and by them, " he, being dead, yet speaketh." 

His mortal remains were interred in the church-yard 
of Dunfermline, on Thursday, November 9, by his sur- 
viving relatives and friends, in the presence of a vast 
concourse of spectators, " deeply and justly lamenting 
the loss of so valuable a minister.*''* A table-stone was 
placed over his grave, on which, it appears, the follow- 
ing Latin epitaph was inscribed. It is here copied from 
a book of memoranda written by his son Robert. 

31. S* 
RADOLPH I ERSKIX^ 
Qui obiit vi. die Xovembris mdcclii, 

in lxviii. anno eetatis. 
Hie jacet in tumulo non tacta vir pietate, 
Semper fide gregem namque suum docuit. 
Ohstitit Eetatis Clerieomm vitia. eulpas. 
Non nexit derias ; jus vero Dei timuit.f 

* Account prefixed to his Works in 8vo. p. xvi. note, 
-f- This inscription, literally translated, is as follows ; 



084 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



This sepulchral stone was renewed about the time of 
the erection of the new parish church of Dunfermline 
in the year 1818. It now lies, supported by short pil- 
lars, at the north-east corner of the church, a few yards 
from the wall of that edifice. The present epitaph con- 
sists of these words : — 

" In memory of the Rev. Ralph Ehskixe, minister of the 
Gospel in Dunfermline, who died the 6th Nov. 1752, in 
the 42d year of his ministry, and 68th year of his age." 

To this are added similar memorials of his successors, 
the Rev. John Smith and Dr. Husband, who were in- 
terred in the same grave, while the following verse of 
Scripture is placed at the bottom : — 

Heb. xiii. 7- " Remember them which have the rule over 
you, who have spoken unto you the word of God ; whose 
faith follow, considering the end of their conversation." 

Soon after his decease, the following concise account 
of him appeared in a list of deaths in a periodical work.* 

" At Dunfermline, of a high fever, in the sixty-seventh 
year of his age, Mr. Ralph Erskine, minister of the 
Associate congregation in that town. His father, Mr. 

" Sacred to the memory of Ralph Erskine, who died on the 
6th day of November 1752> in the 68th year of his age. 
Here lies the dust of a man of untainted piety, 
His flock he instructed with uniform fidelity, 
He firmly opposed the corruptions and faults of the clergy of 
his age. 

Tobv-paths he turned not aside, but reverenced the law of God, ■* 
* Scots 3Iagazine for 17o2, p. 510. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE, 



385 



Henry Erskine, descended of the family of Marr, and 
one of the younger of thirty* three children, was, before 
the Restoration, minister at Cornhill in Northumberland, 
from whence he was ejected by the Bartholomew act 
1662; and after the Revolution, at Chirnside, five miles 
from Berwick; and died August 10th, 1696, aged 72. 
Mr. Ralph was ordained in 1711, was generally reckoned 
one of the most popular preachers in the church, and 
was therefore much followed. He joined in the famous 
representation and protestation given in to the Assembh 7 
1720 and 1722, with respect to a book entitled the 
Marrow of Modern Divinity ; made a warm appearance 
in the several processes against Professors Simson and 
Campbell, and against the act of Assembly 1732, con- 
cerning the method of planting vacant parishes, which 
chiefly gave rise to the secession from the church.; 
seceded in 1736 from the church judicatories ; was one 
of those who gave in a declinature to the Assembly 
1739; and was, with the rest of his brethren, deposed 
in 1 740. When a breach took place in the Associate 
Synod, on occasion of the burgess-oath, he was of those 
who maintained the lawfulness of that oath. He was 
author of many poems, sermons, &c. which are well 
known. He has left three sons, two of whom are se- 
ceding ministers, Mr. Henry at Falkirk, and Mr. James 
at Stirling." 

Ebenezer Erskine of Stirling could not fail to be 
deeply affected on receiving information of the sudden 
death of a younger brother, peculiarly endeared to him 
by his excellent qualities and attainments, and by long- 
continued habits of the most confidential and delightful 
friendship. When the interesting intelligence reached 



386 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



him, he expressed himself, as was formerly stated,* to 
this effect : " And is Ralph gone ? He has twice got 
the start of me ; he was first in Christ ; and now he is 
first in glory ."f 

The heavy loss sustained by the Associate congrega- 
tion of Dunfermline, in the death of this much esteemed 
pastor, was not speedily repaired. After a long vacancy, 
however, of nearly eight years, the Rev. John Smith, 
a richly gifted minister, who had previously laboured 
with great credit at Jedburgh about fifteen years, was 
admitted to the charge of that numerous and bereaved 
Hock, July 16th, 1760. On that occasion, according to 
the records of the Associate Session of Dunfermline. 
Mr. William Arnot of Kennoway delivered the first dis- 
course, Mr. Swanston of Kinross preached the admission 
sermon, and, after an interval, Mr. Shirra gave the con- 
cluding discourse. Mr. Smith exercised his office with 
eminent faithfulness and acceptance till the 7th De- 
cember 1780, when he died suddenly, " in the fifty- 
eighth year of his age, and thirty-fifth of his ministry .' ? 
In 1776, the Rev. James Husband, D.D. having re- 
ceived a unanimous call, was ordained colleague and 
successor to Mr. Smith ; after whose decease he re- 
mained sole pastor of that congregation till the year 
1785, when the Rev. James M 'Far lane was regularly 
called, and ordained to be his colleague. For a long 
period these two excellent men laboured together in 
the ministry, in a manner that commanded universal 

* Life of Eben. Erskine, p. 454, 
•}• See Appendix, No. X. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



387 



esteem and admiration. " Dr. Husband and Mr. 
M'Farlane," says a writer who knew them well, S£ for 
upwards of thirty-six years exercised their joint labours 
among that people, with a harmony and agreement 
perhaps rarely experienced in collegiate charges. They 
loved each other with a pure heart fervently."* Lovely 
in their lives, in their death they were not far divided. 
Dr. Husband, according to the epitaph formerly noticed, 
died " the 17th May 1821, in the seventieth year of his 
-age, and the forty-sixth of his ministry." Mr. M 'Far- 
lane, as is stated on another monumental stone, erected 
in a different part of the same burying-ground, by "a 
number of his friends, in testimony of their respect for 
his character, and affectionate gratitude for his long and 

faithful services," " died on the 10th April 1823, 

in the sixty-fourth year of his age, and the thirty- 
eighth of his ministry. ' 9 f 

About the year 1800, during the collegiate ministry 
of Dr. Husband and Mr. M'Farlane, the old meeting- 
house, built at the commencement of the secession, 
was demolished, and a new and elegant church erected 
near the same site. A short time after Mr. M'Farlane's 
decease, several hundred members of the congregation, 
in compliance with their own request, were disjoined 

* See a " Short Memoir of the Rev. James Husband, D.D. 
senior minister of the Ass. Cong., Queen Anne Street, Dun- 
fermline," in the Christ. Monitor, Vol. i. Pp. 401—405. See 
also a description of his character, comprised in a Review of Dr. 
Henry Belfrage's Funeral Sermon, after his death, in the same 
Vol. Pp. 514—518. 

■f* See a " Short Sketch of the Life and Character of the Rev. 
James M'Farlane," by H. B,, in the Christ. Monitor, Vol. iii. 
-Pp. 389—400. 



888 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



from Queen Anne Street community, and formed into 
a new congregation, which soon built for themselves in 
another street, a handsome place of worship, distinguish- 
ed by the appellation of St. Margaret's Church. The 
Rev. Robert Brown was ordained minister of this last 
congregation on the 17th May, 1826; but finished his 
course so early as April 19th, 1828. The Rev. Alex- 
ander Fisher was settled pastor of Queen Anne 
Street congregation, March 20th, 1827 ; but to him 
also a short career of usefulness was assigned, for he 
died the 26th September 1829. The memory of each 
of these highly promising young ministers is embalmed 
by two separate volumes, containing respectively an ac- 
count of their life and character, and a few of their 
valuable discourses and addresses. The surviving friends 
of their predecessors, Dr. Husband and Mr. M'Farlane, 
who so long and so ably exercised their ministry in 
Dunfermline, must surely regret, that hitherto they 
have not been favoured with similar memorials of these 
amiable and talented fathers, to remind them of those 
evangelical, correct, and eloquent discourses, which 
were often heard with exquisite delight ; and to animate 
their hearts, and quicken their pace, on the way to that 
heavenly Zion, where pious preachers and their be- 
lieving hearers shall meet again, to part no more. 

With reference to these two congregations, it remains 
only to notice, that the Rev. John Lav/, formerly mi- 
nister of Newcastleton, was admitted to the charge of 
St. Margaret's, October 1st, 1828 ; and that the Rev. 
James Young was ordained minister of Queen Anne 
Street congregation, June 1st, 1831. May both these 
respected brethren be preserved alive and vigorous for 
many years, and have the joy to see their rainistration.^ 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



389 



crowned with abundant success. May great and happy 
effects, resulting from the labours of Ralph Erskine, and 
his successors, be continued for a long series of ages to 
come ! 

Several other seceding congregations, erected at dif- 
ferent periods, within the original bounds of Mr. Erskine V; 
charge, might also have been mentioned ; as those of 
Cairnyhill, Limekilns, Crossgates, Chalmers' Street, Dun- 
fermline, and a few more. Without meaning, however, 
at all to derogate from the importance of those congre- 
gations, or from the respectability and worth of their 
former and present pastors, we must satisfy ourselves 
with this brief allusion, and forbear stating any particu- 
lars of their history. 



390 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



CHAPTER IX. 

Mr. Erskine's religious character illustrated by extracts from his 
Diary — His vital piety — Dependence on the Saviour and the 
Spirit — Habitual trust in God — Devout perusal of the Scrip- 
tures — Frequent and fervent prayer — Self -inquiry — Domestic 
and public exercises — Improvement of providential occurrences 
— Humility. 

The reader of the foregoing pages has now perused a 
somewhat circumstantial account of this minister's 
eventful life, and surveyed his conduct in the varying 
scenes through which he passed from early youth to the 
close of his mortal career. Some further details, how- 
ever, illustrative of his spirit and behaviour, both in a 
private and public capacity, may not merely be proper 
from the regard due to his memory, but seem justified 
by considerations of utility ; for his example, when still 
more minutely contemplated, is calculated, by the bless- 
ing of God, to afford encouragement and direction to 
the Christian pastor, and to animate every good man 
in the path of duty. 

In a memoir of him written many years since, his 
character is summed up in the following terms : — 

" He was a man who possessed not only a very ex- 
traordinary degree of the most valuable natural gifts 
and endowments, such as cheerfulness, good nature, 
modesty and gratitude, uniting in him, but remarkable 
for genuine piety, a heavenly disposition of mind, and 
well acquainted with vital religion and practical godli- 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



S9i 



ness. Yea, in him centred all the ornaments of the 
minister, and amiable qualities of the Christian, with- 
out the least affectation or smallest appearance of vanity. 
He was a shining instance of the truth and amiableness 
of Christianity, and an exemplary pattern of spiritual- 
mindedness and sincere devotion."* 

This high encomium may seem to discover the fond 
partiality of an admiring friend. But that it is not 
entirely without ground, is evident from numerous do- 
cuments, and, in particular, from the tenor of his own 
Diary, on which we shall chiefly draw for those illus- 
trations of his excellence that remain to be produced. 

That sincere Piety, which is the beginning of wis- 
dom, formed the most prominent trait of his character, 
and shed its benign influence on every other feature. 
With him religion was by no means a lifeless form, or 
3. mere professional garb, to be assumed or laid aside 
as expediency, or a regard to reputation, might direct. 
It was, on the contrary, a vital operative principle, reign- 
ing in his heart, and habitually governing his conduct. 
He repeatedly expresses an earnest desire to possess an 
experimental knowledge of the truths he published to 
others, and to " practice his own sermons." His deter- 
mination to seek his chief happiness in God, and the 
delight he actually found in Him and his service, are 
also every where apparent in his record. He says ac- 
cordingly : — 

" Monday. March 6, 1732. — At this time my soul 
was made to profess to God that I would hope in him 
amid all changes, because he is God and changeth not, 



* Account prefixed to the Sve. edition of his works. Pp. 
xviii. xix. 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



that I would hang upon him as a promising God ; and 
that here I would lie, here I w r ould die, here I would 
rest in life and death, in time and eternity, even in him- 
self, as my only prop and salvation, consolation, righte- 
ousness and strength, happiness and heaven." 

" Sabbath, Nov. 19, 1732. — I was made to look to 
Him as my only refuge and portion. Having this day 
given it as a mark of God's being a refuge, that to 
whom he is a refuge, to them he is a portion ; I was 
made myself to exercise faith upon God as my portion 
as well as my refuge, and to declare to him I would 
have himself and none but himself to be my portion. 
Under a sweet tide of influence, I was made to acknow- 
ledge him as my only portion, my heaven, my hope, 
and ray all ; and to cast myself upon him as the great 
God that made heaven and earth, and the God that is in 
Christ, and whom, in and through Christ, I desired to 
have as my everlasting inheritance." 

In his intercourse with the Father of spirits, his 
whole dependence was placed on that Saviour, whom 
he powerfully recommended to others, as the only me- 
dium of access to God, the only foundation of hope for 
eternity. To this the following entries bear sufficient 
testimony : — 

" Sabbath, Oct 24, 1731. — Having prayed in the 
evening with my children, I was helped to pray in se- 
cret with an outpouring of the soul before the Lord, 
owning my claim to the promise, my claim to pardon, 
my claim to grace, my claim to daily bread, my claim 
to a comfortable life, my claim to a stingless death, my 
claim to a glorious resurrection, and my claim to ever- 
lasting life and happiness, to be, only only in Christ, and 
in God through him as a promising God." 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



393 



" Nov. 13, 1731.— O where shall I see God but in 
the promise ? There 1 see him. And where shall I see 
the promise, but in Christ, in his blood, and as there 
ratified and confirmed? Under a sense of my iniquity 
and naughtiness, I was enabled to put all things in 
Christ's hand, my justification and sanctification, conso- 
lation and salvation ; and to bless God, who had put 
all in his hand, and to glorify him with my heart, that 
he had chosen such a trustee, I proclaimed him wor- 
thy, worthy to have the government, worthy in himself, 
and judged worthy by his Father. I therefore thought 
him infinitely worthy, and thus I put myself, my soul, 
my name, my worldly affairs, my children, my life, and 
all, in his hand/' 

To the province of the Holy Spirit in the economy 
of redemption he frequently alludes ; and the necessity 
of the Spirit's influence to the purification and comfort 
of his own soul he deeply felt. — " I was enabled,'' says 
he at one time, " with tears to appeal to the Three that 
bear record in heaven, concerning my need of the Spi- 
rit." — " My heart," he states at another time, " was 
sweetly poured out in pleading the words of grace on 
which the Lord has caused me to hope ; and particu- 
larly in looking to him in that word of promise to me, 
the 6 watering every moment,' and the 4 well of water 
springing up to everlasting life.' My heart melted be- 
fore God, and dissolved like water, in the view of my 
being favoured with such a promise. A short blink of 
heaven and sweet assurance was allowed me. Glory to 
God. O to be helped to wait on a God of judgment." 

In the following entry he records a lesson learned 
from experience, regarding the importance of not resist- 



394 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



ing, as well the cheering as humbling influences of the 
Divine Spirit : — 

" Jan. 23, 1733. This morning after reading and 
meditating a little on the word, particularly Heb. hi. 
and Ps. cxxx., I was quickened in prayer, and strength- 
ened to hope in the Lord. At the beginning of my 
prayer, I discerned a lively frame in asserting a God in 
Christ to be the fountain of my life, the strength of my 
life, the joy of my life ; and that I had no life that de- 
served that name, unless he himself were my life. But 
here checking myself with reflections upon my own sin- 
fulness, vileness and corruption, I began to acknowledge 
my wickedness ; but for the time the sweetness of frame 
failed me and wore off. Whence, I think, I may gather 
this lesson, that no sweet influence of the Spirit ought 
to be checked upon pretence of getting a frame better 
founded on humiliation ; otherwise the Lord may be 
provoked to withdraw. The Lord, however, was plea- 
sed to breathe upon my soul in some after part of the 
duty, and to make me say with the Psalmist, 4 I wait for 
God, my soul doth wait, in his word do 1 hope.' " 

Very frequently does he express his reliance on the 
promises as the ground of his hope, and his purpose to 
trust not in his own varying frames and feelings, but in 
Christ himself, that firm and immutable rock, and his 
unchanging word : — 

" Aug. 23, 1732. This morning, after reading and 
considering Is. xxv. and the beginning of Ch. xxvi., it 
was the matter of my prayer ; wherein I was helped to 
some steadiness, composure, and serious attendance upon 
a sovereign God, but without any sensible sweetness of 
a lively frame. Yet I had a persuasion that this made 
nothing to the ground of my hope and confidence, 



THE REV. RALPH ER SKINS. 



395 



which, I was persuaded, was still the same, without any 
variation from my frames. These I was brought to be 
so far denied to, that my heart rested just upon a bare 
naked promise of the living God, whose life and being 
is ever the same, notwithstanding my deadness. The 
Scripture I had read I went over in prayer upon my 
knees, both with a view to the interest of Christ abroad 
and at home, and with a view to myself, my work, my 

children And before I was done, got some 

little lively acting of faith in desiring that, with refer- 
ence to all I had been praying for by virtue of the di- 
vine promise. I might have it to say, 6 This is the Lord. 
I have waited for him, I will be glad and rejoice in his 
salvation.' " 

" Thursday, Dec. 7, 1732. This evening when I 
went alone, I was helped in secret prayer to a special 
degree of trust and confidence. I was made with tears 
of joy to say, can God forget me? No: because he 
cannot forget himself and his Christ, his name, his glory, 
his mercy, and his truth. If he remember himself, he 
cannot but remember me ; for all my hope, with all my 
encouragement, is only drawn from himself. Glory to 
God." 

" He was favoured by his Blessed Master," says one, 
H with uncommon degrees of the manifestation of the 
love of God, and enjoyed the highest measures of as- 
surance."* This statement seems to be justified by 
many paragraphs in his Diary, where he expresses a joy- 
ful confidence in God, and a Jirm trust in him, suited to 
various exigencies and occasions. 

* Account prefixed to Mr. Erskine'a Works, 8vo. edition, 
Vol. i. p, x. 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



Such was his exercise, under a consciousness of per- 
sonal guilt and depravity. — " Sep. 2, 1734. This 
morning, after reading some Psalms, and particularly 
the 51st, I was helped and strengthened in prayer, with 
some penitential melting before the Lord as my God 
and Father, and some believing application to him in 
the promise. I went to prayer in faith of acceptance 
through Christ, blessing God that Christ was so accep- 
table to him, that through him he could accept of such 
a leper as I. I was filled with a sense of my own weak- 
ness, and therefore sought he might keep his everlasting 
arm about me." 

He trusted in God in the prospect of important and 
arduous duties. — " Friday, June 27, 1735. I was 
humbled before the Lord, and led to fervency in plead- 
ing for the promised Spirit, the promised presence. In 
view of the sacramental occasion, I was made to rely on 
his 8 Lo, I am with you.' " 

When difficulties relating to external comfort were in 
any degree felt or apprehended, he confided in the pro- 
mises of his faithful Creator. " I was exercised before 
him," he says in one passage, " about my family pro- 
vision. I was made to say, ' I am poor and needy,' 
and to own that God has been my hope ; and looked 
to that word, 6 Bread shall be given thee, thy water 
shall be sure/ " " Viewing my present circumstances," 
he adds in a subsequent entry, " as one that might be 
cast out of the present Church of Scotland, I desired to 
look to the Lord, that he would help me to faithfulness 
and faith without fear, and to cast myself and my family 
upon his providence, to whom the earth belongs. I 
viewed that the earth is his and the fulness thereof, the 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



897 



heaven his and the glory thereof, and that he himself is 
heaven, and the glory of heaven." 

The obloquy which he occasionally suffered, as well 
for his faithful admonitions to individuals, as his public 
appearances in the cause of religion, gave occasion for 
the exercise of trust in God. At one time, when sub- 
jected to the scourge of the tongue, he availed himself 
of David's expostulation, and made it the subject of a 
sermon. " Monday, Oct 2, 1732. This night at Cul- 
ross, I was detained in Col. Erskine's, and obliged to 
preach in the evening ; Lady Catharine Anne Erskine 
having greatly urged it. Accordingly I preached on 
Ps. xlii. II, < Why art thou cast down, O my soul' 

r " Tuesday, March 19, 1734. After reading 

particularly the book of Ruth, it was up-stirring to me, 
and I was enlarged, quickened, and melted in prayer 

— entreating the Lord Jesus would not leave me 

nor bid me leave him, but that his Father might be my 
Father, his God my God, his people my people, and 
that I might glean in his field, he being my near kins- 
man. This evening having heard of some reproaches 
cast upon me, I was led to the Lord, and got my name, 
and all things put in his hand." 

His habitual confidence in God was mightily sustain- 
ed by means of a regular and attentive perusal of the 
Scriptures, The Bible he made use of in his studies, in 
small octavo, bearing his name, and the date 1716, 
written with his own hand, is still in a state of good pre- 
servation. It exhibits various marks of the care with 
which he read it, and the value he put on its precious 
contents. A great proportion of the verses throughout 



398 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



the whole volume have a dot or asterisk prefixed to 
them, denoting the attention he paid to those texts, or 
the impression they made on him, and probably in many 
instances their having been the subject of his public 
discourses. On one of the blank leaves, too, he has re- 
corded a list of verses entitled texts " that have been 
sweet and useful to my soul."* 

It was his custom to read a portion of Scripture im- 
mediately before engaging in solemn secret prayer. 
With a view to promote holy reverence for the word, 
and confidence in pleading its gracious declarations and 
promises, he not unfrequently, like the pious and 
Honourable Mr. Boyle, read the book of God literally 
on his knees. 

" Saturday r , Dec. 4, 1731. After reading I prayed, 
and was humbled under a sense of my unbelief and 
wickedness. Yet I was made to look to God's name as 
being still the same, which I thought of this morning when 
I awoke ; and especially I looked to God in those 
names given him, Ps. cxlvi. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, which I read 
again upon my knees, and dwelt particularly upon that, 
his " keeping truth for ever," and compared in my 
mind his being the Keeper of truth with his being the 
Keeper of mercy, Exod. xxxiv. 7. 

" July 2, 1735. After reading Ps. Ixxi. I took the 
Bible in my hand to my knee, and read, and prayed as 
I read, from verse 16th and downwards; and was help- 
ed so to do with some outpouring of the soul, and 
with application to myself in the view of the sacrament 
and the work upon my hand. I sought the Lord might 
teach me how to make mention of his righteousness, 

* See Appendix, No. XI. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



399 



knowing I have no righteousness but guilt instead of 
righteousness, and how to go on in his strength, know- 
ing I am not only weak but wicked ; — owning he had 
taught me from my youth, and seeking that now when I 
am old and grey-headed, he would not forsake me till 
I have showed his strength to this generation, and 

showed the glory of Christ and his righteousness ; 

owning also that none is like unto him, and seeking that 
he would quicken me as the God that quickens the 
dead, and do great things for me like a great God, and 
comfort me on every side by refreshing me with bis 
presence, blessing and making me a blessing ; that so 1 
- might praise him on the psaltery, even his truth." 

Though in perusing the sacred oracles alone, it seems 
to have been his usual practice to proceed regularly 
from chapter to chapter, he often read passages of dif- 
ferent books at the same time, comparing them to- 
gether. i; Monday^ Jan. 29, 1733. I read Jerem. last 
chapter, and Heb. vii. viii. and ix. with some medita- 
tion, and observed how Christ's priesthood is establish- 
ed as an everlasting, valid, and full}' sufficient priest- 
hood, and how the covenant is confirmed by his death ; 
and this was matter of prayer to me," 

He appears to have read no part of holy writ with 
greater frequency or delight than the book of Psalms. — 
M Monday > April 10, 1732. After reading Ps. cv. 
and part of cvi., I got grace to pray with many sweet 
actings of faith, mixed with kindly penitential mourning 
for sin ; acknowledging myself to be more brutish than 
any man, and pleading that the Lord would have re- 
spect to his covenant." — " April 14, 1733. In some of 
these mornings past, some scriptures that I read in my 



400 



LIFE AND DIARY OP 



ordinary were precious to me, particularly Rev. vii. 17, 
and Psalms xxiii. xxiv. xxvii. xxviii. xxix." 

Instead of confining himself, however, to favourite 
books or select passages, he made conscience of per- 
using the whole Bible, and often reaped much instruc- 
tion and refreshment from portions which at first he was 
apt to consider comparatively uninteresting. " Aug. 
11, 1732. This morning I read some chapters in Isaiah, 
viz. xv. xvi. xvii. ; which, though I thought there was 
little in them, I determined to read with an eye to the 
sovereign Lord, because it is his word ; and I observed 
many useful lessons therein, as I had done some days 
before in Isa. xiii. After reading I was mightily help- 
ed and strengthened in prayer, particularly with refer- 
ence to my public work, and my going to Kinglassie. 
I was made to lay hold on his word and his faithfulness 
pledged therein, and to plead upon his former mercies." 

From the preceding extracts it is manifest, that what 
he read in the Scriptures was often improved as mate- 
rials for meditation and prayer. The few following af- 
ford a further specimen of the pious assiduity with which 
he availed himself of the sacred lessons that, in his daily 
course of reading, fell successively under his eye. 

" Sabbath, Dec. 5, 1731. After I had noticed, in 
reading, some of God's names in Psa. cxlvi. and the be- 
ginning of Psa. cxlvii., I went to prayer, and had my 
heart poured out before God therein. I viewed him as 
great in power, and of infinite understanding ; pleading 
that this day he would act in a manner suitable to these 
names of his — that he looses the prisoners ; that he 
opens the eyes of the blind ; raises those that are bowed 
down ; gives food to the hungry ; heals the broken in 
heart, and binds up their wounds ; breaks the hard 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINL. 



401 



heart, and heals the broken heart. — I was this day help- 
ed to preach on that subject, ' God in Christ.' " 

" June 29, 1784. This morning after reading, I had 
a strong inclination to lay siege to heaven for the living 
water that was promised to come out from Jerusalem. 
I prayed with strong cries for the Lord's being victorious 
in my behalf, in preserving me from such a way as 
might be to the dishonour of his name and discredit of 
his gospel, and to the wounding of my own soul. I 
looked for the living water I had read of this morning 
in Zech. xiv., and pleaded the promise with strong cries 
and tears, acknowledging my own weakness and wick- 
edness, and putting myself into the hands of the Lord 
Jesus." 

Monday \ April 21, 1735. This morning my son 
John coming in to me to seek money to buy paper, his 
calling me father was in providence blessed to me, to 
quicken me to go to God as my Father. Accordingly, 
after reading, my heart was melted in looking to God 
through Christ as my Father, who had exercised a fa- 
therly care about me hitherto. Here 1 was made to 
look to him and to beg of him as a father, that he would 
give me his Spirit ; and remembering with outpouring 
of heart before him that word, Lukexi. 13, 'If ye being 
evil know how to give good gifts unto your children, 
how much more shall your heavenly Father give his 
holy Spirit to them that ask him ?' I was led to seek 
this blessing ; and the rather that he had caused me to 
hope for twenty four years past on that word John iv. 
14, 6 The water that I shall give him, shall be in him 
a well of water springing up to everlasting life.' Then 
I was made to seek his presence in my ministerial work 



402 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



It is not without reason that he has been styled " a 
laborious and successful wrestler" at the throne of grace.* 
He felt the importance of prayer, we have seen, in very 
early life ;f and the whole tenor of his Diary manifests 
the conscientious diligence and zeal with which he per- 
sisted in this interesting duty. At the very beginning 
of that portion of it we possess, he expresses himself in 
the following terms : — 

''Monday, Sept 27, 1731. I came to Perth [from Kin- 
claven,] and Tuesday the 28th I preached in Perth, for 
Mr. Wilson, from Rom. viii. 28. Late this night, in my 
room, I got my soul sweetly poured out before God in 
secret prayer ; praying for the Spirit to be with me 
according to the promise ; to be helpful to me in the 
whole of my conduct, public, private, and secret." 

He was far from adopting the notion of those who 
imagine that the coldness of their hearts at the moment, 
or the want of a desirable frame of spirit, affords a suffi- 
cient pretext for omitting the exercise. His own ex- 
perience served to confirm his attachment to those more 
scriptural views on this point which have since been 
thus expressed by a justly celebrated writer : " If the 
time and other circumstances call for the duty, our own 
disposition of heart is, of all others, the most foolish and 
criminal excuse. How much better would it be to 
wrestle as Jacob in the text, and insist upon the bless- 
ing; which cannot be more sensibly illustrated, with 
respect to this particular branch, than by mentioning 
to you a resolution which an eminent Christian entered 
into for his own practice : That he would not be baffled 

* Account prefixed to his Works, in 8vo. vol. i. p. 17. 
f Chap. i. Pp. 24—27. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



by a treacherous spirit ; for he would never give over 
the work of praise till his affections were stirred and he 
were brought to a sense of gratitude for Divine good- 
ness ; and he would never give over enumerating and 
confessing his sins till his heart were melted in contri- 
tion and penitential sorrow."* 

" May 6, 1735. I had a little reviving in prayer to a 
promising God, and some outpouring of heart in look- 
ing with humility towards the promise, and the faithful- 
ness and mercy of God in the promise. One lesson I 
learned about this time, and many times formerly, that 
when I have been utterly indisposed for any duty, I 
have resolved to present my body at prayer and to cast 
my empty self before the Lord, though I could do no- 
thing more ; and then I have found my soul also en- 
gaged to the Lord and his service, and faith strengthen- 
ed and quickened, before the duty was over. Whence 
it is plain to me duty is our's, but the ability is from the 
Lord ; and though we have no ability for duty, yet we 
are to venture looking for foreign strength. Hence 
also it is plain, in opposition to Quakers and enthusiasts, 
that the rule of the word is to be followed, even when 
we find no motion of the Spirit ; and that his motion 
and influence is to be expected in following the rule ; 
but we cast ourselves out of his way, when we neglect 
the rule, and are in danger of following an erroneous 
spirit, instead of the Spirit of truth." 

The subject and tenor of his petitions for himself and 
others may be understood from the following extracts, 
as well as from others already produced : — 

* Dr. Witherspoon's Works, vol. ii. Ser. 11th, Fervency and 
Importunity in Prayer. 



404 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



« Sabbath, July 30, 1732. — After I had lectured on 
Rom. iii. ult., and preached on Ezek. xliiL 12, and 
prayed with the children at home, I had some access to 
God, in praying to him as a promising God, in behalf 
of my ministerial work ; in behalf of my everlasting 
concerns ; in behalf of my wife ; and in behalf of my 
children ; I was also made to cry to God, that he would 
bless what was delivered this day, partly by my col- 
league, and partly by myself; and that, though the 
preaching was over, yet the Lord would bless it with 
powerful effect." " Saturday, Jan, 14, 1738. — After 
awaking, I thought upon that word I had read the night 
before, 2 Cor. v. 5, c He that hath wrought us for the 
self-same thing is God, who also hath given unto us the 
earnest of the Spirit.' I thought on the sovereignty 
of his grace as the worker of grace, and the giver of 
the Spirit. After reading, I had some freedom in prayer, 
and in family worship. After worship, when alone, I 
had my heart sweetly melted in the view of the pro- 
mise of the Spirit, and in pleading that the Lord would 
pour out his Spirit upon the people of Dunfermline. 
I had that word especially in view, Is. xliii. 20, 21, 
6 The beasts of the field shall honour me, even the 
dragons and the owls ; for I will give water in the wil- 
derness, and streams in the desert, to give drink to my 
people, my chosen. This people have I formed for 
myself, they shall show forth my praise.' " 

The frequency of his devout supplications gives evi- 
dence of the pleasure he found in approaching to God. 
Agreeably to David's example, he appears to have 
made it his usual practice to pray at least " evening, 
morning, and at noon."* " Saturday, March 3, 1733, 

* Psalm lv. 17. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



405 



This morning, after reading. I was helped in prayer. 
Afterwards I was helped in the forenoon ; but especially 
after dinner, when I went again to God upon my knees, 
my heart melted before the Lord, and was poured out 
into his bosom as a promising God, while I professed 
him to be my only hope and happiness ; my only refuge 
and portion." 

Not satisfied, however, with observing stated seasons 
of solemn prayer on his knees, his soul very often, and 
particularly during the course of his journies, took 
flight to the throne of grace in those ejaculatory ad- 
dresses, which are eminently conducive to the habitual 
enjoyment of intimate fellowship with God. The cor- 
rectness of this statement is evinced by the following 
examples. 

" Sep. 29. 1731. I was detained in Perth this fore- 
noon by ill weather. I came off about the middle of 
the day, and betwixt Perth and the Bridge of Earne. I 
was helped in prayer while on horseback." — " July 25, 
1732. " When I rode home alone from Orwell [where 
he and his brother had assisted in administering the 
Lord's Supper] I was helped, when riding on horse- 
back, to serious application to the Lord by prayer. Be - 
twixt Kirkness and Blair, and also on the rest of the 
way, I was much humbled under a sense of sin and un- 
worthiness, and yet my eyes were towards Ins holy tem- 
ple." 

A firm conviction, founded on Scripture and support- 
ed by happy experience, of the efficacy attached to the 
prayer of faith, powerfully incited him to " pray always 
with all prayer and supplication," and sincerely to value 
an interest in the kind intercessions of his fellow - Chris- 
tians. 



408 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



" Feb. 12, 1732. This nigfai Helen Waterston came 
to the house and gave me several encouraging accounts 
of her exercise in behalf of my children. This evening 
my daughter was not well ; and when I was alone very 
late. I prayed for her with much sweetness, putting her 
in the heart of the strong tower, the name of the Lord, 
and casting her on that covenant, 6 I will be thy God, 
and the God of thy seed.' Deriving my hope from the 
promise, and the fidelity of the promiser, my heart was 
poured out with hopeful tears." 

On one occasion he was requested by an afflicted 
friend to remember him in prayer. From the urgency 
of other affairs, the pious request for a time escaped 
his memory ; but happening to recollect it during the 
night, he rose out of bed, and prayed with great fervour 
in behalf of that individual. Not long after, he had the 
happiness to receive information of his recovery, and 
found that at the very hour in which he had wrestled 
for him with the God of Jacob, the sufferer had obtain- 
ed effectual relief. " How true the promise," adds a 
worthy minister,* in a letter containing this anecdote, 
" While they are yet speaking, I will hear." 

That he was minutely attentive to the workings of 
his own heart, and often examined his state and charac- 
ter before God, is clear from the tenor of the foregoing 
extracts. The two following instances will serve still 
further to show the accuracy with which he investigated 
his own spiritual condition, and his readiness to avail 
himself of instructions calculated to aid him in tins ne- 
cessary and profitable exercise : — 



* The late Rer. 3tr. Brown of Whitburn. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



407 



" Saturday, Aug, 5, 1732. This evening, after I 
came from Carnock, I went to prayer, and found liberty 
in pouring out my heart before God. I remembered in 
prayer the Scriptural marks [of vital Christianity] that 
Mr. Hunter offered in his discourse this day, and exa- 
mining myself before the Lord about them, I found I 
had either every one of them, or a hearty desire after 
them. The marks were founded on John vi. 40, 44, 45. 
Ps. ex. 3, whence he deduced that they who had not 
found their inability to believe, and the need of drawing, 
their unwillingness and their need of being made willing, 
and had not been determined effectually to close with 
Christ, were not believers. Also upon 2 Cor. v. 17, 
< If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature/ I said 
before the Lord that I thought there was something 
within me that would be pleased with nothing without 
him, and that he alone was my hope and my strength ; 
and that my heart which naturally was towards the 
creature, was, I thought, in some measure towards God. 
Also upon Rom. viii. 9 ? ' If any man have not the Spirit 
of Christ, he is none of his ; 9 I thought that was what I 
had been many years looking for. Also on Philip, hi. 
3, 7, 8, showing that a change was wrought, from what 
sometime was the temper of the heart, and Christ above 
all things precious for righteousness. I had a JBochim, 
and an ardency of zeal in desiring fellowship and com- 
munion with God, and in looking for his Spirit ; also a 
solemn protestation before God, that I could do nothing 
without him, and that he alone is my hope and my 
strength." 

" Sabbath, Dec. 3, 1732 — This evening I was 
strengthened to the exercise of faith in secret prayer, to 
trusting in a promising God, and to a secre: pleasant 



408 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



glorying in the Lord. In prayer, I went through the 
marks in my colleague's sermon, and made application 
of them to myself with some pleasure, such as ; they 
whom the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus had 
freed from the law of sin and death, they have seen the 
glory of the light ; this view has begotten them to a 
lively hope ; this hope has led to a purifying of heart 
and life ; this purity makes the remains of sin griev- 
ous ; they are lovers of the ordinances of the gospel, 
and of the word of God: they are lovers of the people 
of God, who bear his image ; they are lovers of the 
providence of God, even of cross-providences. Whatever 
fretfulness flesh and blood may have, they see God in 
his dispensations ; and the more of God, the more 
beauty in his dealings." 

Whilst the various exercises of the closet were thus 
sedulously maintained, and proved the means of so 
much spiritual enjoyment, it might well be presumed 
that the family altar was not neglected. Many brief 
allusions occur in the Diary to the religious worship 
performed daily in his house, at least morning and even- 
ing : to the psalms sung, the chapters read, and the 
prayers offered up. " This evening," he says. " in 
family worship. I was quickened with the word read, 
Acts v., and helped after it in secret/' " This day," he 
adds in sa ubsequent passage, Dec. 28, 1736, I examined 
at Crossford, and visited some sick people, both before 
and after it. At family worship, having read John vi. 
I was somewhat touched with the great and weighty 
matter contained in it ; and, after family worship, having 
gone to secret prayer, I was helped in some measure to 
eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of God, — 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



409 



by faith apprehending Christ's incarnation, or God in 
our nature, and Christ's satisfaction, his being the sacri- 
fice, the propitiation, the ransom, the atonement ; and 
all with some liveliness and application." 

On various occasions his family were assembled for 
the purpose of extraordinary abasement and prayer. 
If iniquity abounded, if important services were in pros- 
pect, or if afflictive and bereaving dispensations were 
experienced, he said to his household, " Sanctify a fast." 
Let one example in addition to those formerly produced 
suffice : — * 

• " Saturday, Nov, 15, 1735 I set apart all the fore- 
noon from nine to two or three afternoon, for humilia- 
tion and prayer with my family, confessing sin and seek- 
ing the mercy of God in Christ. I kept Henry and 
Johnny at home from school for that end. Instead of 
speaking with the family betwixt prayer and praise, I 
read some of Mr. Boston's notes on fasting, and what is 
forbidden in every command in the Larger Catechism. 
W hile I caused Henry a and John pray in the family, my 
heart was in their behalf, it being their first [attempt of 
this kind,] wherein I allowed and excused their brevity. 
May the Lord succeed this exercise with a blessing in 
due time." 

The man who, from principle, worships God with 
his own family, is not indifferent to the observance of 
this excellent practice in the houses of his friends and 
acquaintance, Whatever kind hospitality they show 
him, he feels a real defect where that service is omitted, 
and is proportionably happy when he enjoys the oppor- 
tunity of uniting in the delightful exercises of domestic 



* Chap. v. p. 236—240. 



410 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



piety with those from whom he receives other valued 
expressions of civility or friendship. Mr. Erskine ac- 
cordingly describes the happiness he once experienced 
in the dwelling of a pious friend in Edinburgh in the 
following terms :— 

" Saturday Jan. 15, 1732. — This morning, after 
reading Ps. xxix. 10, 11, I found my heart strengthened 
in prayer : and, afterwards, in family worship, in my 
landlord's Mr. Braid wood^ my heart was enlarged both 
in singing, in reading, and in prayer. The psalm sung 
was Ps. xxv. 6 — 8, and the psalm read was Ps. cxv. ; in 
both which 1 found matter of comfort and confidence in 
the Lord ; and after worship was over, sitting alone, my 
heart was poured out before God for his blessing, accord- 
ing to that word, « I will bless thee, and make thee a 
blessing.' Lord, elorifv thv name." 

His delight in the services of the sanctuary was 
great and lasting. In some preceding chapters we have 
adverted to his care to profit by the public institutions 
of religion, and the pleasure he found in associating 
with his brethren, especially at sacramental solemnities. 
A few more quotations bearing on this trait of his cha- 
racter, may seem useful. 

" Monday, March 6, 1732. — I heard my brother- 
preach in the Tolbooth Kirk, [Edinburgh] and was re- 
freshed, being able, through grace, to apply to myself 
the marks that he gave about going up from the wilder- 
ness, leaning on the Beloved." 

Even when hearing young men, as a member of 
Presbytery, in order to judge of their qualifications, he 
was more apt to listen to the truth as a Christian, desiring 
his own spiritual advancement, than to sit as a critic. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



411 



intending to pronounce an opinion on the merits of* 
their discourses. When the late Rev. Robert Shirra of 
Kirkaldy had delivered some trial discourses for ordina- 
tion, being asked to give his judgment respecting them, 
he answered with a tone of surprise, " What is that ? 
Moderator, I forgot that it was upon trials ; I was 
hearing for the edification of my soul." 

To him the songs of Zion appear to have been parti- 
cularly pleasing and beneficial. 

" June 23, 1732 This day I went to Glendovan, 

where I preached Saturday and Sabbath on Matt. iii. 11. 
My special times of refreshment were in singing the 
psalms in public, both Sabbath morning and Sabbath 
evening. The last psalm sung was Ps. lxxxv. 6, 7." 

" Burntisland^ July 22, 1733 — I found much sweet- 
ness and heart-fellowship with God several times this 
day, partly in hearing Mr. Thomson preach, and espe- 
cially in singing the psalms, and was helped in serving 
the two first tables after him, and thereafter in preach- 
ing at the tent, on ' Do as thou hast said.' This evening 
in my room I got my heart revived and melted in the 
duty of prayer alone, apprehending God as my own 
gracious promising God, and trusting in his word. My 
heart was made thankful also to God for owning Mr, 
Thomson, and making him evangelical and zealous." 

" Saturday, Oct 20, 1733. — I went to Abbotshall. 
I heard Mr. Currie and Mr. Gibb [of Cleish] and tar- 
ried with my wife in the house of Raith. On Sabbath 
I communicated at one of the tables Mr. Currie served. 
I had much sweetness in the exercise of faith, in sing- 
ing several psalms that were sung, particularly part of 
Ps. xxiv. and xxii." 

Seldom, however, was he more in his element than 



412 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



when employed in solemn prayer and humiliation, whe- 
ther in the closet, in the social circle, or in the public 
assembly : — 

" Tuesday, April 25, 1732. — There was a fast kept by 
the elders and others in George Crawford's house. I was 
helped to wait on it without weariness, and closed the 
meeting with prayer about 5 o'clock, p. m." — " Tues- 
day, Nov. 14, 1732. — This day I preached, and was 
assisted on Philip, iv. 6. This evening the meeting for 
prayer was in my house, and we had sweet fellow- 
ship in conversation. In singing afterwards, when 
alone, I was made to consider what there was in God 
that could give me relief; and my heart was made to 
rejoice in him as all my happiness, all my heaven. I 
thought there was enough in him to satisfy my mind, 
to satisfy my will, to satisfy my heart and affections ; 
and that it was happiness enough to the redeemed that 
they for ever behold his glory, and got liberty to praise 
him for his glorious perfections in Christ : and I de- 
sired to be of that happy number." — " Tuesday, Oct 
22, 1734. — This day being the congregational fast be- 
cause of the great sickness and death, especially among 
the children, I was strengthened in preaching this 
afternoon, upon Isa. ix. 13, < The people turneth not to 
him that smiteth them, neither do they seek the Lord of 
hosts.' " 

The spirituality of his mind, and his entire devotedness 
to the service of God, seem to have been greatly pro- 
moted by a habit of carefully observing the events of 
Providence. We find him, accordingly, at one time 
devoutly fixing his eye on an eclipse of the moon, and 
at another 3 recording a hurricane. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



413 



" Tuesday [, Nov. 20, 1732 — This morning, after 
reading, I prayed with some composure of mind and 
holy confidence in God as a promising God. This 
evening I spent some hours in noticing a remarkable 
eclipse of the moon, which lasted, from beginning to 
end, three hours and forty minutes." 

" Sabbath, Jan. 14, 1739 This day, from twelve 

to near four in the morning, a wind, or rather a hurri- 
cane blew terribly, shaking all the houses of the town, 
and putting all the inhabitants to a great confusion and 
consternation. Little more harm, however, was done 
here; but much more elsewhere through the land." 

Striking instances of the Lord's preserving goodness 
made permanent impressions on his heart. Once on 
the evening of a communion Sabbath, he recollected 
with lively feelings of gratitude a narrow escape from 
drowning, when crossing the firth from Leith to Kirk- 
aldy. 

" Kirkaldy, Monday, Oct. 22, 1733. Last night, be- 
fore the work was over, I went away in the evening to 
my quarters, and by the way was helped to meditate 
upon God, and his works of mercy towards me. I 
walked towards the place where I was almost drowned, 
when the impression I had in Leith, and my prayer for 
preservation [recurred to my thoughts.] I meditated 
on that work of God, then went home, and in secret 
that night was helped anew to pour out my heart before 
God, and to take a new grip of his covenant and pro- 
mise, as I had done in the church." 

Some years after, he rendered his tribute of thankful- 
ness for a renewed preservation amid " perils by M ater," 
which proved fatal to others on the same day : — 

" Tuesday, June 26, 1739. — I preached at Knock, 



414 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



and Thursday a,t Linton, by appointment of Presbyter} . 
Wednesday being a rainy day, I rode the Water of 
Leith as I went to Linton ; and that day a minister and 
four other people were drowned in that water some 
miles below ! Glory to God for preserving mercy." 

He was not inattentive to the lessons which the com- 
mencement of a new year and the anniversary of his 
own birth-day were fitted to impress on his mind. 
These seasons gave a new impulse to his devotional 
ardour. — " Jan. 1, 1733. After reading Jer. xxxiii. 
and some other Scriptures, I went to prayer, and therein 
had my heart poured out with secret joy before the 
Lord. I found my soul somewhat strengthened to look 
to God through the glass of the promise. This day I 
first went to the Session that met for prayer, and then 
to another meeting for that end, and was engaged in 
this work till six p. m. We had designedly proposed the 
setting this day apart in this manner, because so many, 
on the contrary, sequestrate it for drinking and wicked- 
ness. — " Jan. 1, 1735. — When praying in the even- 
ing, I was led to look to God in the promise ; begging 
he might help me to watch and keep my garments 
clean, not knowing how soon the Lord may come." — 

66 March 15, 1735 Saturday being my birth-day, when 

I entered my fiftieth year. This morning I was helped 
in prayer and quickened in duty. I had some convic- 
tion of my ingratitude, and was made to look again to- 
wards God's holy temple." 

His Journal contains several notices of the deaths and 
funerals of ministers and others whose character he 
esteemed, and was desirous to emulate ; of which the 
following are a specimen : — 

w May 23, 1732 — Andrew Conyng, an elder of our 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



415 



parish died. We heard about this time also of Mr. 
Boston's death. Lord, sanctify. — Thursday May 25. — 
This day I preached upon that word, 6 Say ye to the 
righteous, it shall be well with him? , — " June 29, 1783. 
— This day I went to the burial of Mr. Charters, mi- 
nister of Inverkeithing. and Mrs. Lindsay of Cavil." 

" Friday, Oct, 4, 1734. — This morning Mrs. Spence 
died after child-birth. I was raised out of bed to go to 
her husband, who was greatly afflicted. I was much 
affected, when, at his desire, I went to prayer with him 
and my colleague, and afterwards when alone. I was 
led to bless the Lord, because he had ripened her for the 
change, as 1 evidently discerned, from the strong affec- 
tion she had, especially of late, to the word, and the 
sweet communion she had with God therein, which, 
from time to time she imparted to me. I lost a great 
friend by her death." 

The decease of Margaret Dewar, his first wife, he 
felt particularly trying ; and his concern to profit by 
that affecting bereavement, was discovered not merely 
at the time of the event, but also in succeeding years, 
more especially when the annual return of the day 
brought it fresh to his remembrance. 

" Wednesday, Nov. 22, 17-32. — This day, remember- 
ing it to be the day on which my wife died, and which, 
last year, I had set apart for secret worship to some 
advantage, I resolved to essay observing it in like man- 
ner, and shut myself up in my room. After a short 
prayer that the Lord would be with me, I read my 
ordinary, Jer. ix. and then prayed. Afterwards I read 
my ordinary Ps. lxxxviii. and then meditated upon Jer. 
ix. 23, 24, compared with 1 Cor. i. at the close. Hav- 
ing read that, and the whole of ch. iii., I adored the 



416 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



perfections of God that shone in his conduct towards 
me, and observed that he exercised lovingkindness, 
judgment, and righteousness in the earth, and towards 
me. Then I went to my knees, and having reflected 
on the sinfulness of my nature and way, I begged of 
God to be pitied and purged, and to have my heart 
fixed this day, acknowledging I could no more pray 
than I could save myself, and could no more fix my 
heart than I could make the sun to stand still. Then 

1 began to think on what has passed since my setting 
this day apart last year ; and though I noticed ground 
of humiliation, I observed also ground of thankfulness." 
[He proceeds to mention some other chapters he read 
and compared ; also several petitions he presented for 
himself and family, for a minister in affliction, for the 
church of Scotland, for Dunfermline, and the success of 
his labours there, for Jews and Gentiles, and for " the 
persecuted and praying people of God throughout the 
world," and concludes thus :] " In this manner the day 
was spent till about two o'clock afternoon. I cried to the 
Lord it might not be a lost day, but that for the Medi- 
ator's sake I might reap the blessing of the day in his 
time. Then I went and prayed in the family betwixt 

2 and 3 o'clock, and afterwards prayed alone, expressing 
my hope, saying, 6 my hope is in his word.' " 

His keeping a Diary for many years, amid the numer- 
ous labours that daily devolved on him as the pastor of 
a large congregation, affords a satisfactory proof both 
of his attention to his own heart and conduct, and of 
his care to receive the salutary counsels brought home 
to him by outward occurrences in providence. He oc- 
casionally reviewed what he had recorded in his Jour- 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



417 



rial ; and we find him acknowledging the benefit reaped 
from it :* — 

" Saturday, Nov, 1, 1735. This evening in secret 
prayer, the Lord humbled me, and I was partly led to 
it by reading over some part of this diary in this book, 
reflecting on old aberrations, and also late iniquities. 
The Lord, however, quickened me both now and on 
Sabbath, Nov. 2, in the morning ; for on both these 
occasions, I was brought under a powerful gale of the 
Spirit, laying me low, and yet enabling me anew to lay 
hold on Christ by some lively acting of faith in his pro- 
mises. Conviction of sin was great, and yet confidence 
in the mercy of God through Christ, as manifested in 
the word, was also great : and my heart was melted to 
spirituality and to a hatred of vain conversation." 

The candid statements of his own private record, 
added to the authentic testimonies of his contemporaries 
regarding the general tenor of his conduct, leave no room 
to doubt, that whatever his defects and abherrations 
may have been, he was entitled to the character given 
him of " a shining example of piety, holiness, and inte- 
grity T\ Ingenuous acknowledgments of sin were ac- 
companied with firm resolutions and habitual endeavours 
to mortify and avoid it ; as appears from the following, 
amongst many similar expressions. — " I was taught that 
the utmost liberty and outpouring of heart before the 
Lord will not preserve from a sudden return to folly, if 
watchfulness be not added to prayer. Lord hear, and 
pity." " I was made to swear and resolve through 

* See some remarks on writing a Diary, in Life of Ebenezer 
Erskine, Pp. 172-177. 

f Account in 8vo. edition of his Works, vol. i. p. 17« 



418 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



grace, that I would keep myself from mine iniquity. 
Lord help to perform ; help to walk circumspectly, and 
to watch unto prayer." 

The influence of his exemplary conduct has been de- 
scribed in the following lines : — 

u An holy humble course of life he steer'd, 
That all might see the doctrine which they heard. 
His presence grave did reverence great command, 
And crave profound respect from every hand. 
His very look could vanity reclaim, 
His countenance put levity to shame*"* 

That his " course of life" was truly " humble" 

that he was adorned with that humility which is an in- 
separable concomitant of piety and the brightest orna- 
ment of the Christian, appears from the foregoing detail. 
Yet it may be useful, in concluding this chapter, to pro- 
duce a few extracts and anecdotes calculated to exhibit 
this amiable characteristic a little more fully. The pas- 
sages of his journal in which, with deep abasement and 
godly sorrow, he confesses his sinfulness by nature and 
practice, are almost numberless. What follows may be 
received as a sample : — 

" July 7, 1732. I was at this time brought to have a 
little Bochim* looking on myself as a child, yet the most 
rebellious child that ever a gracious God had in this 
world." — Nov. 12, 1733. I was made hopefully and 
humbly to cast all upon him with some dependence on 

* Quoted from a Poem to his memory, composed about thirteen 
years after his death. Works in 8vo. vol. i. p. 22. These lines 
indeed are confessedly borrowed from Mr. Erskine's own Elegy 
on Mr. Hamilton of Stirling, and applied to himself. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



419 



his word ; having first viewed myself as a mass of un- 
belief, enmity, atheism, darkness, death and hell, and yet 
apprehended a God in Christ as my light, and life, and 
righteousness, and all." — " Sep, 29, 1735. I was made 
to own that infinite justice could not be magnified upon 
any one in hell so much as in my damnation ; and yet 
was made to see how every perfection of God, wisdom, 
power, holiness, justice, mercy, and truth, would be all 
glorified to the highest in my salvation, and therefore to 
hope in his name and perfections through Christ." 

These expressions in his Diary, serve to illustrate the 
cordial sincerity with which he uttered the following 
words in a sermon he preached at Carnock: — " This is 
a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that 
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of 
whom I am chief. O let every one here say it with ap- 
plication, and I will say it with you through grace 

< of whom I am chief,' even the chief of sinners whom 
he came to save."* 

Far from contenting himself with such general and 
vague confessions of sin as serve only to beguile the 
conscience and harden the heart, he particularly scruti- 
nized the diseases of his soul and the errors of his lifec 
He often charges himself expressly, as in the following 
entries gathered from various parts of his record, with 
much remaining ignorance, unbelief, indolence, un- 
watchfulness, wanderings in prayer, and other iniquities ; 
and describes the painful conflicts betwixt grace and cor- 
ruption, these two opposite principles he found operating 
within : — 

" I had a sense of my utter ignorance of God, but yet 



* Quoted from Brown's Gospel Truth, p. 132, note. 



420 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



I was pitied and strengthened in viewing the names he 
had taken to himself in his word and promises." (< I 
was under heaviness through apprehension of atheism, 
and unbelief, and the Lord's absence." " Much idle- 
ness having been my fault, on Saturday, even after the 
sweet morning I enjoyed, I had some challenge this day 
(Sabbath,) yet was carried through the work with some 
desire to commit it to the Lord." " I found in prayer, 
at this time, as frequently before, both a dark side and 
a bright ; a dark side, filled with roving, and a bright 
side, filled with the Spirit poured out so as to make the 
heart to trust, believe, and rejoice." " This evening 
my unwatchfulness robbed me of the sweet communion 
promised, John xiv. 21." " After I had been some 
time alone, I got a bitter, mourning review of my sin- 
fulness, both old and late transgressions, the sins of my 
childhood, sins at Edinburgh, Portmoak, Culross, Dun- 
fermline ; mourning bitterly, as it is expressed, Zech. 
xii. 10. Yet with tears, I got prayed for forgiveness, 
saying, Father, Father, forgive." 

How excellent soever the gifts he was endowed with* 
he retained through life a deep sense of his own insuf- 
ficiency for the faithful and successful discharge of mi- 
nisterial duty, and daily implored the necessary aids, 
and the blessing from above. 

" Nov. 27, 1731. I went to my knees, seeking of the 
Lord he would show me whether he had any more to 
give me to say on that text, 4 He hath given all things 
into his hand.' And here I was helped humbly to ac- 
knowledge my insufficiency. I had such a sense of this 
that I could hardly utter it. I thought words could not 
express how insufficient I was. I owned the ministerial 
work to be what the Lord only could bless and make 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



421 



effectual, and that the whole belonged to him. And 
here my heart was poured out to seek that that which 
is the glory of the gospel might be granted ; even that 
it might be ' the ministration of the Spirit' in a powerful 
way, and that he would reach and touch the hearts of 
whom he pleased." 

His humility was discovered further, in his readiness 
to do justice to the merits and popularity of other minis- 
ters, and also to conduct himself meekly when, at any 
time, he somewhat failed in his public appearances : — 

"Sabbath, Aug. 6, 1732. This morning I was help- 
ed, with an outpouring of heart, to pray, and to trust, 
and to look to the Lord for his pity, and had faith 
strengthened upon Ps. xviii. 1, 2. My heart exulted 
and rejoiced in him as my strength, while I was made 
sensible of my own weakness and confusion. I thought 
of my incapacity to preach after such an eloquent preach- 
er as Mr. Lindsay. * [whom he was to succeed in the 
pulpit at Carnock the day following,] and of my want of 
preparation. Yet I thought, on the other hand, if God 
were my strength, I should do well enough ; and in the 
confidence of this, I set about the means." 

At one time when Ebenezer and Ralph Erskine both 
preached on the Monday after the celebration of the 
Lord's Supper at Glasgow, the former delivered an ex- 
cellent discourse with his accustomed animation and dig- 

* He here refers to the Rev. Henry Lindsay, then minister of 
Eothkennar, but translated about eight years after to Perth. He 
was born in the parish of Dunfermline, sustained an irreproach- 
able character, and was esteemed a very evangelical and useful 
preacher. See a short account of him in Gospel Truth, pp. 443, 
444, and also in Steven's History of the Scottish Church in Rot- 
terdam, pp. 161 — 164 Compare p. 133 of this work. 



422 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



nity, while the latter considerably fell short of his usual 
fluency and fervour. Shortly after the close of the wor- 
ship, when the two brothers had an opportunity of con- 
versing privately together, Ebenezer gently intimated to 
Ralph that it appeared to him the sermon he had preach- 
ed that day was not so substantial and interesting as 
usual ; on which Ralph made a reply to this effect ; 
" True, brother ; but if my poor sermon humble me, 
perhaps I shall reap greater advantage from it, than you 
from your great sermon." * 

The language he employs, in fine, with regard to his 
various publications and their apparent utility, indicates 
a genuine lo wliness of heart, combined with an ardent de- 
sire of doing good. Some of his expressions on this 
topic will occur hereafter. The following brief quota- 
tion from one of his letters to Mr. WMtefield may suf- 
fice at present " It refreshes me to hear that any of 

my poor writings in verse or prose have been and are 
blessed? in this or any other part of the earth. If I tra- 
vel by pen as far as you do in person, and contribute 
my mite for spreading the gospel light, I rejoice in it, 
and bless his name for it, who has ordered this beyond 
my view and expectation." f 

* This anecdote was related by the late Dr. Lawson, who pro- 
bably received it from the Rev. 3Ir. Fisher of Glasgow, 
f Brown's Gospel Truth, p. 15J. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSklNE. 



428 



CHAPTER X. 

Mr. Erskine's pious and exemplary conduct in the various rela- 
tions of life — Asa Son — Husband — Father — Master — Grand- 
father — Brother — Friend and Companion — His candid and for- 
giving spirit — Extensive benevolence. 

True piety is the only solid basis of all that is virtuous 
in temper and conduct. The experience of ages con- 
firms the doctrine of Scripture regarding its absolute 
necessity to genuine moral excellence, and the powerful 
influence it exerts on the behaviour of mankind in the 
various relations and circumstances of life. By its vital 
and blissful energy, it, in some degree, supplies what is 
defective, and corrects what is amiss in the natural 
temperament, whilst it never fails to throw a fresh 
lustre on every estimable endowment and amiable 
quality received from the God of nature. 

The subject of this narrative was constitutionally pos- 
sessed of a warm, affectionate, and active spirit ; and its 
tendencies being refined and ennobled by Divine grace, 
he became, on the whole, singularly pleasant and useful 
in every relation and capacity he held, whether public 
or private. 

As a Son, he cherished a profound veneration and 
tender love for his worthy parents. It is no slight proof 
of his early attachment to his father on earth, that when 
deprived of him by death in his eleventh year, the pangs 
of filial sorrow he then felt proved the occasion of draw- 
ing out his heart to God as his Father in heaven ;* and 

* Compare Ch. i. p. 26. 



424 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



the care with which he subsequently copied his father's 
example as a Christian and a minister, afforded the 
most substantial evidence of deep regard for his memory . 
His mother, Margaret Halcro, having survived her 
husband for about thirty years, he had many opportu- 
nities of expressing his affection for her ; nor did he fail 
to improve them. Part of her time in old age, as was 
formerly stated, she spent happily under his roof ; and 
he concurred with his brother Ebenezer in showing her 
all becoming attention and respect at her death.* The 
Latin inscription on her tomb-stone, most probably, 
was composed by Ralph.-)- 

In the interesting relation of a Husband, he dis- 
covered great tenderness, happily blended with that 
Christian fidelity which produces an unwearied atten- 
tion to the spiritual welfare of a beloved partner. 
Though we have seen no part of his Diary written 
prior to the death of Margaret Dewar, his first wife,J 
the subsequent entries, we find, contain repeated allu- 
sions to her, from which it is clear she was endeared to 
him by a lovely combination of the principal excellencies 
that can adorn the female character. He commends 
her as truly pious, prudent, and affectionate, his " best 
friend on earth" Among other passages, referring to 
her worth, the following occurs : — 

" Saturday, Dec. 25, 1736 Last night, I saw 

Elizabeth Campbell, she not being well ; and having 
spoken a little to her alone, she told me some of my 
first wife's dying words, [uttered] before I came home 

* Life of Eben. Erskine, Pp. 39, 42. 

f Ibid, Pp. 516, 517- 

J Compare chap. v. p. 186, 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



425 



that Sabbath night [in which she expired ;] namely, 
6 This mortal shall put on immortality, this corruptible 
shall put on incorruption, and death shall be swallowed 
up in victory.' She told me also how afflicted she now 
was for her ingratitude in her carriage many times to- 
wards her [having been a servant in the family,] and 
desired I might pray for her." 

In one of his note-books, we find a sermon on Job 
xiii. 1 5, * Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him,' 
with this memorandum written on the margin at the 
beginning : " My dear wife died November 22, 17:30, 
being Sabbath. I preached this first sermon thereafter 
on Sabbath, December 6th." 

We must not here omit the verses in memory of this 
excellent female, which are introduced at the close of 
his Miscellaneous Poems, in the following terms :* — 

" A Sacred Ode on Margaret Dewar, my first 
most affectionate spouse, who died November 22, 1730, 
after having born ten children, aged 32. 

66 The law brought forth her precepts ten, 
And then dissolv'd in grace ; 
This vine as many boughs, and then 
In glory took her place. 

Her dying breath triumphantly 

Did that sweet anthem sing, 
Thanks be to God for victory ; 

O Death ! where is thy sting V y 

A letter addressed to an esteemed brother, only nine 
days after he became a widower, supplies, however, the 

* Works, vol. ii. p 788. 



426 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



amplest account of his feelings on that mournful occa- 
sion, the consolations that sustained him, and the spiri- 
tual improvement he was desirous to reap from the 
sadly bereaving stroke.* 

Letter — Rev. Ralph Er shine to the Rev. Neil Jlac • 
vicar of St. Cuthberts, Edinburgh. 

Dunfermline, Dec. 7, 1730. 
" Very Rev. and Dear Brother, 

Your kind sympathising 
letter came to my hand on Saturday at noon, when I 
was alone in my closet, and my soul eating bitter herbs 
in great plenty, insomuch that I could not read your 
compassionate line, without bedewing it with tears of 
sorrow at the occasion of it, and joy upon occasion of 
the Lord's goodness, in stirring you up to take a lift 
of my burden, which I take to be one of the fruits and 
effects of his sympathy, who is the great burden-bearer, 
and who has said, 6 Bear ye one another's burdens, and 
so fulfil the law of Christ.' 

" Dear Brother, I may say, with Ezekiel, (chap. xxiv. 
18 5 ) ' X spake unto the people in the morning, and at 
even my wife died.' I lectured in the forenoon, preached 
in the afternoon, heard the exercise in the evening, and 
after that saw some sick persons, and all this time the 
Lord saw fit to hide it from my eyes, that my dear wife 
was dying. Though I knew she was in distress that 
day, and two or three days before, yet it was not 

* This letter is copied from the Christian Repository, vol. i. 
pp. 527 — 529, collated with a MS. copy, kindly shown by a lady. 
The varieties are but few, and merely verbal. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSK1NE. 



427 



reckoned mortal by any but herself ; for she many a 
time expressed her apprehensions of death, not only 
then, but a long time before ; and it is part of my grief 
that these advertisements were so overlooked by me, 
and that I had so little will to believe what I now find 
to be true. Her last words expressed the deepest hu- 
miliation and greatest submission to the sovereign will 
of God, that words could manifest ; and thereafter, she 
shut up all with that, 6 O death, where is thy sting ! O 
grave, where is thy victory ! Thanks be to God who 
giveth us the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord,' 
— which she repeated two or three times over. And 
yet, even at this time, I knew not they were her dying 
words, till instantly I perceived the evident symptoms 
of death; in the view whereof I was plunged, as it were, 
into a sea of confusion, when she, in less than an hour 
after, in a most soft and easy manner, departed this 
life. 

" She was one that had piety and seriousness without 
the least noise or show ; virtue and industry, without 
vanity or levity ; and the greatest kindness and care, 
especially towards me, all the lifetime we had together, 
which was sixteen years. And now my groaning is 
sometimes heavy, and yet my stroke is heavier than my 
groaning ; but it is the Lord, and therefore it becomes 
me to be dumb, and not to open my mouth, because he 
did it. O pray to him, that he may sanctify this pro- 
vidence, and that Christ himself may be more than ever 
the desire of my heart, since he has taken away the de- 
sire of my eyes with a stroke. And to encourage you 
to seek this in my behalf, you may plead his own pro- 
mise, on which, I think, he has caused me to hope, viz. 
that he will be with me in trouble, and that he will 



428 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



never altogether leave me, but that his Spirit shall be in 
me as a well of water springing up to everlasting life ; 
that he will lead the blind by a way that they know not ; 
that he will make darkness light before them, and crook- 
ed things straight ; and some other such words of grace 
as these. 

" Meantime I see need, great need, for such a stroke 
and affliction, as a rod to correct me for my faults, as a 
furnace to purge me from my dross, as a bridle to re- 
strain me from my rebellion, as a spur to excite and stir 
me up to my duty and work, and as a glass wherein I 
may see both more of my own sinfulness, and more of 
the glory of God. And as I do indeed see his holiness 
and righteousness, and truth, on several accounts, in 
this dispensation ; so I would fain hope to see his grace, 
mercy, and lovingkindness therein more clearly than 
as yet the dark side of the cloud allows me. May the 
Lord help my unbelief and increase my faith. Pray 
that my five motherless young ones ma} r be the objects 
of our everlasting Father's love and care. They and I 
need the continued sympathy of godly friends, in many 
respects, and especially that of our never-dying, ever- 
living friend, Jesus Christ. 

" Rev. dear brother, as iron sharpens iron, so your 
sympathy with me tended, in a great measure, to excite 
mine towards you in the several heavy burdens you lie 
under. It has been the desire of my heart to the Lord, 
that as to the affair of your great congregation, he 
would order it, in his infinite wisdom, to his own glory, 
their good, and your comfort. Your distressed friends 
have also been upon my heart, and particularly poor 

Mrs. , that she may be saved in the Lord with 

an everlasting salvation, to the glory of his free grace. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



429 



This, with my kind respects to your spouse, and to Mr. 
Gusthart and his, (whose sympathy I hope I have,) and 
whom, together with other Christian friends, I wish you 
to stir up to Christian sympathy and prayer in behalf 
of me and my family, is from, very Rev. and dear 
Brother, 

Your very affectionate, though afflicted Brother, 

Ralph Erskine." 

Two years after the death of his first partner, he 
married, as was formerly stated,* a lady named Mar- 
garet Simson. The contract of marriage entered into 
at that time, is mentioned in the following terms : — 

" January 12, 1732. I looked to the Lord this 
morning, and eyed him that he would do for me for his 
name's sake ; and my heart trusted in him, and I was 
helped. For this evening I got a meeting of friends, 
taking with me my Lord Grange and Mr. Mackie ; 
and for the bride there was Mr. Guillan, Advocate, and 
her brother, who met in Mr. Simson's house. The 
meeting was managed without any altercation, and the 
frame of the contract was agreed upon with much har- 
mony. I had told again and again that I had nothing 
to contract but myself and providence. She contracts 

. Here I observed the goodness of God, who 

still carried on this affair without any opposition, and 
with much peace." 

The celebration of the marriage is recorded thus : — 

" Thursday, Feb. 24, 1732. I was married by my 
brother Ebenezer at Edinburgh with Mrs. Margaret 
Simson, daughter to Mr. Daniel Simson, writer to the 



Page 187. 



430 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



signet in Edinburgh. Some time after the marriage. I 
called my wife alone, and prayed with her. On this 
occasion much time was spent in giving and receiving 
visits." 

Several letters he had written to this lady during the 
period of courtship are still extant, and are truly worthy 
of him as a parent, and as a man of integrity and piety. 
The following extracts from these communications need 
not now be reprobated as an unwarrantable divulging 
of private concerns, and may serve not merely to in- 
crease the reader's esteem for their author, but to exhi- 
bit, at least with regard to their spirit and tenor, a use- 
ful example to others placed by providence in similar 
circumstances. 

In his first letter, of date Dec. 8, 1731, he says ; — 
" As it is in itself no light affair for one to be called in 
providence to be a wife and a mother at once, so my 
heart bears me witness, that it has been no light matter 
unto me, to have the conduct and direction of heaven 
in my choice ; which if I am favoured with, it is not 
great things in a world I desire to aim at, knowing from 
experience that bountiful providence has made my cup to 
run over many times, when I have been far from laying 
down measures for that end." He concludes by re- 
questing her " to spread his proposal before the Lord," 
imploring his direction. 

In a letter of December 27th, written subsequently 
to her having somewhat encouraged his advances, he ex- 
presses his hope that she will " prove a help, comfort, 

and blessing to himself and his family :" u which I 

also hope," he continues, " will be comfortable to you, 
and easily managed to your satisfaction, whose temper 
and disposition, so far as I have heard or can discern. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



is such as I expect will be agreeable to me and them. 
Such is my natural endearment to the five children the 
Lord has spared to me that, if I were trysted with one 
in a conjugal relation with me that was of a rugged and 
unkindly disposition towards them, I doubt not but it 
would contribute to hasten me with sorrow to my grave, 
But as I have quite other apprehensions of your temper 
and disposition, so my value for peace and satisfaction 
at home being greater than for many thousands of gold 
and silver, which I have been prompted to aim at, has 
made me especially wish for one in whom piety, pru- 
dence, virtue, and good natural temper might meet to- 
gether." 

A third letter, bearing date January 31st, 1732, grate- 
fully acknowledges a kind reply she had sent him, and 
contains the following passage : — w It has been part of 
my prayer that you may be filled with much of the 
spirit of love to Christ, and in him to me and my chil- 
dren, and I desire it may be part of your prayer also : 
For that love is the purest and sweetest that is of his 
creating by his Holy Spirit, and that is founded upon 
love to himself. Such love among friends and relations 
makes the life sweet, and every service easy and plea- 
sant. It Debilitates the soul, and elevates it far beyond 
all natural pleasures." 

The Christian sincerity and humility with which Mr. 
Erskine acknowledged God, when proposing to enter a 
second time into the bonds of matrimony, and the d p 
solicitude he felt for the happiness of his first family, ap- 
pear, if possible, still more strikingly from several entries 
in his record ; of which we quote the three follow- 
ing :— 

"Dec. 6, 1731. — I was made to look to God for 



432 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



provision, in a meet help, that in the mount of the Lord 
it might be seen, the Lord would provide. Also I pray- 
ed that if Peggy Simson, of whom I heard one speak 
to me this morning, were the person I should seek after, 
the Lord, the Angel of the Covenant, the Angel of 
angels, might guide and direct me. I was made to look 
to God in the promise, that he would lead me in a right 
way, in a way I knew not, in a way I have not known, 
that he might do these things, and not forsake me," 

<c Sabbath, Jan. 23, 1732. After sermon, my soul 
was sweetly melted before God in secret, in looking to 

him through the glass of the promise. 1 was made 

to look to him, that when father, and mother, and wife had 
forsaken me, he would take me up, and take care of me 
now when old age and grey hairs were coming on me ; 
and that he would provide well for me, as he had hither- 
to done. And here I was helped to pray for my bride, 
that the Lord would bless her and make her a blessing 
to me and to the children ; that he would see to the 
glorious accomplishment of the word on which he had 
caused me to hope ; that he would betrothe her to him- 
self. My heart was enlarged and poured out." 

" Monday, Jan, 31, 1732. This morning, after 
reading some Scriptures, I went to prayer. Though 
under indisposition at first, yet before I was done, I 
again met with the gales of heaven about my heart. I 
was again made to acknowledge my sin, and flee to the 
mercy of God in Christ, as the ransom and propitiation. 
I acknowledged the Lord might righteously write bitter 
things against me ; but I looked to Jesus who had 
drunk the bitter cup, and was made sin for me, and 
through him I sought to be pitied, particularly in this 
matter of my intended marriage. I was made again to 



THE REV. RALPH ERSK1NE. 



commit my bride to the Lord. Having read that word. 
' In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct 
thy paths.' (Prov. iii. 6.) I now acknowledged that a 
prudent wife was from him, and that the qualifying of a 
wife for me was from him. I acknowledged him as a 
promising God, to whom I looked for the blessing, and 
sought her as a blessing to me and to my children. And 
here again the poor lass and the four lads were rolled 
over upon that covenant, — 6 thy God and the God of 
thy seed/ I looked upon them as not my children, but 
the children of God, his concern. I was made to seek 
that the Lord, who had taken away their mother, and 
left them orphans, would provide a mother for them, 
and make my bride a loving kindly mother to them. 
Here, with all my heart melting, and my eyes dissolved 
in tears, I was made to seek that the Lord would create 
love in her heart, first to God, and then, in him, to me 
and to the children. My heart was a little damped, 
when I considered that it was not natural for women to 
have much love for the children not their own by birth, 
and that common experience, for the most part, showed 
that it is a rare thing. But then, again, though I own- 
ed it was not like nature, or like the common way of 
the world, for a mother-in-law to have much love for 
the children of the first marriage, yet I thought it was 
like grace, that it was like unto God, the God of love, 
and that it would be like the promise. And then, with 
a flood of tears, and under a shower of influences, I 
sought of God, that he would remember his word, and 
do for me and my children, and fill my bride with \o\ e 
to himself, and in him to me and to my children ; and 
I sought to her the spirit of love as well as the spirit of 
wisdom to this end, and was made to look with conn- 



434 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



dence to a promising God. Thus my heart was en- 
larged. Lord, hear. Though it is man's way not 

to love or delight in children not our own, even when 
marriage takes place, yet God's way being the way of 
love, contrary to man's way, which is the way of hatred, 
strife, and variance, I sought the promise might be ac- 
complished in a way like himself, that his name, and 
truth, and faithfulness, might appear. Glory to God 
for what impression of himself he has been pleased to 
allow me, both last night and this morning." 

To these fervent prayers a gracious answer was re- 
turned. According to his own repeated and satisfac- 
tory statements, Margaret Simson proved all that 
could be wished, both as a dutiful wife, and an affec- 
tionate mother : — 

" June 14, 1732. — I was made to bless the Lord for 
his goodness in providing me a wife, whose temper was 
so pleasant and peaceable." 

" Jan. 1, 1734. — When sitting at breakfast, Johnny 
not being well, I observed the care that my wife and 
her aunt took of him, and the rest ; and my heart bless- 
ed the Lord, that he from day to day provided, and I 
was helped to dependance on him as a heavenly 
Father." 

While feelings of undissembled gratitude were thus 
excited in his breast, he was careful on his part to 
manifest cordial affection for Mrs. Erskine, not only 
by unremitting attention to her temporal comfort ; but 
also by frequent prayers with and for her, and by em- 
bracing every opportunity of promoting her knowledge, 
holiness, and spiritual enjoyment, as appears from the 
following extracts : — 

« Wednesday, July 19, 1732 — Last night I talked 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



435 



with my wife about the sacrament, [administered at 
Dunfermline the Sabbath preceding.] I found she had 
been at a table that Mr. Fisher served. She told me 
of the struggle she had before she went, and yet that 
she did not repent going, because she got Christ ap- 
plied in communicating, but durst not speak with con- 
fidence of it. She looked on herself as the greatest 
sinner, and none she thought needed Christ so much as 
she. To this purpose she spoke, when I asked her 
about the frame and disposition of her mind in commu- 
nicating ; and this was pleasing to me." 

" Nov, 18, 1732. This morning I had some edifying 
conversation with my wife, and in speaking to me I 
found her affected, and her eyes dropping tears. She 
was not without some views of death, and spoke of her 
own stupidity and want of due concern, though she knew 
not but she might die at this season of child-bearing. 
1 spoke to her of our making Christ our refuge ; how 
little we needed to fear death, if the sting were removed; 
and how our stupidity, deadness, darkness, and other 
heart plagues, were so many reasons for our looking to 
the Lord Jesus for healing.'' 

From a number of the foregoing extracts, it is clear, 
that as a Father, he was distinguished for ardent and 
sanctified affection. His record, however, supplies 
many additional passages, expressive of parental tender- 
ness, and, in particular, of the lively and unceasing so- 
licitude with which he watched for the souls of his be- 
loved offspring. 

The surviving children of the first Mrs. Erskine 
having been early deprived of their excellent mother, 



436 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



he felt deeply for them, and often renewed his fervent 
prayers on their behalf : 

" October 8, 1731. — My heart was poured out be- 
fore God on behalf of my children, fleeing with them to 
that covenant, which says, < I will be thy God and the 
God of thy seed/ and to that Jesus, w T ho said, 4 Suffer 
little children to come unto me.' Are they left, said I, 
in my hand ? Aye, they are ruined and lost there, if 
thou take not the charge of them ; therefore, I put 
them into the hand of God, into the hand of Christ." — 

" Nov. 7, 1731 I plainly said to God that he knew I 

had no other ground to hope upon than his covenant 
and promise, or a ' thus saith the Lord and so I was 
made with fervour and freedom, on the score of free 
sovereign grace, manifested through Christ in the pro- 
mise, to pray that he would be a God to Peggy, a God 
to Harry, a God to Johnny, a God to Ebie, and a God 
to Jamie.'' 

No truly Christian parent can fail to be peculiarly 
affected at the birth and baptism of his little ones. The 
feelings of holy gratitude, earnest desire, and humble 
expectation, with which Mr. Erskine saw his infants 
brought safe from the womb, and dedicated them to the 
Lord in the initiatory rite of Christianity, may be learn- 
ed from his own memoranda, relating to the first child 
of his second spouse, which are as follows :— 

" Tuesday, Dee. 5, 1732. — After some rest, I was 
wakened by Mrs. Spence telling me that my wife was 
delivered of a man child this morning about 6 o'clock. 
I arose and praised the Lord for his goodness, and de- 
dicated the child to God, pleading this deliverance 
might be a double deliverance to my wife, both inward 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



437 



and outward; inward and spiritual, so that she might 
be delivered from all spiritual bands, and that her heart 
might be enlarged to magnify the Lord. Afterwards I 
gave the child to God, looking to the covenant (Gen. xvii. 
7.) as sealed with the blood of Christ, and as all my hope." 

u Tuesday, Dec, 12, 1731. — This morning having 
read in my ordinary, namely, Jer. xxiii., Psalm cvi., 
and Col. ii., there was something, particularly in that last 
chapter, which I thought suited my present circum- 
stances, designing the baptism of my child this day ; 
and upon this I prayed that my child might be buried 
with Christ in baptism and raised with him, that he 
might be baptized with the Holy Ghost, that God might 
be to him, according to the promise, his God ; and I 
was made, with sweet freedom, viewing the covenant of 
promise in Christ, to cast over the child upon a God in 
Christ for the blessing of baptism, and for washing in 
the blood of Christ. 

" This evening my child Ralph was baptized by my 
colleague Mr. Wardlaw. Providence led him to speak 
upon Gen. xvii. 7, 6 I will establish my covenant be- 
tween me and thee, and thy seed after thee in their 
generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be a God to 
thee and to thy seed after thee.' When he read that 
text, it was like marrow to my bones, and made my 
flesh, in a manner, creep with surprise. I desired to 
bless the Lord for it, and heard with satisfaction many 
things said on it ; and when I was standing up taking 
on the engagements, in which my colleague dealt very 
modestly, binding me to what I was accustomed to bind 
others to, and when he said, 6 these things you promise 
through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ/ my hear! 



433 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



cordially went in to it. and to the dedicating of the 
child to the Lord. Then after baptism and prayer, be- 
cause night was coming on. he caused to be sung the 
last verse of Psalm 144 : 

1 Those people happy are who be 

In such a case as this; 
Yea, blessed all those people are. 

Whose God Jehovah is.' 

And herein my heart joined, and I cordially committed 
myself and my children to the Lord. Glory to God 
for the blessing of this day/' 

The Journal contains similar though shorter notices 
of the birth and baptism of the other three children of 
the second marriage : from which it appears that they 
were all. too. baptized by Mr. Wardlaw. while their 
father humbly devoted them to God, saying. " Lord? 
accept of the offering, and remember thy covenant in 
Christ Jesus." 

His subsequent attention to the best interests of 
children was correspondent to the pious feelings and 
purposes which accompanied their baptismal dedication 
to God. Ke not merely prayed for them at the stated 
times of domestic worship, but made it his practice oc- 
casionally to take them by themselves, individually as 
well as collectively, to pray with them and to admi- 
nister appropriate counsels. 

" Sabbath* Nov. 5, 1732 — This evening, calling for 
the children; I looked to the Lord for grace to -peak to 
them, and accordingly was helped to give them some 
needful exhortation, and then, having prayed with them.. 



T H.E REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



439 



i prayed alone*—" Sabbath, March 24, 1734 This 

evening, after I had spoken with the children and pray- 
ed with them, I was helped solemnly to give them to 
him, to be saved by grace reigning through the righte- 
ousness of Christ to eternal life, and that grace might 
not want the glory of the salvation of any of them. I 
saw warrant to bring them to him." — " August 22. — 
After reading, I had sweet liberty in prayer and solemn 
approaching to God. I prayed for my wife and for 
my children, looking to God in the testament, and 
formally signing, as it were, the testament by faith, for 
myself and for my wife, and for my children,, and laying 
claim to it, pleading it with liberty and a flowing of 
influence. This was sweet to me. when led in a man- 
ner to subscribe Christ's legacy for myself and for my 
poor children particularly, the lass and the six lads." 

" Sept. 22, ] 734. — In the evening I found my throat 
uneasy, as it had been for twenty days past. Not be- 
ing in good condition for going out. 1 went this even- 
ing, in time of public exercise, to secret prayer. I 
was helped to cast the burden, care, and concern of my 
soul, my work, my wife and children, and my family 
provision over upon Christ, I prayed particularly the 
Lord would be a God to my children, and remember 
his righteousness is to children's children. I had some 
view of the Lord's taking care of them when 1 was 
gone ; having prayed the Lord would be a guide to me 
through every dark valley in my way, and that the 
valley of the shadow of death being an untrodden path, 
he might help to go rightly and safely through it, and 
that my death might be no loss but a gain and advan- 
tage to mv wife and children through the Lord's bless- 
ing it, and taking care of them and of theirs, even their 



440 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



children and children's children, if he spared them, and 
that the Mediator might have a seed of them. I committed 
my children to him to be their God for ever and ever, 
and their guide even unto death; and that he might 
guide them when I was gone, and remember his cove- 
nant. Under this exercise, I was led to view Christ a 
good hand to leave them upon, being 6 the wisdom of 
God and the power of God and I got a heart-filling 
view of his being so, such as made me dissolve, as it 
were, into water before him, and run over in a sweet 
flood of tears."— « Bee. 25, 1736. — I was led to flee 
again to his covenant with my children, the lass and the 
five lads, remembering one of the words I had read this 
day, Prov. xiii. 22, i A good man leaveth an inheri- 
tance to his children's children.' I thought the only 
and the best inheritance I could leave my children and 
their posterity, if given them, was God himself, that he 
would be their God for ever and ever, according to the 
covenant of promise." — " Sab. Jan. 17, 1737. — 1 was 
this evening led not only to pray for the children, par- 
ticularly Harry and Johnny, and for Peggy, Ebie, 
Jamie, and Eobie, but to wrestle with God for the bless- 
ing to them, and under some powerful strengthening 
influence to take hold of him for them, that he may 
provide for them. Here I looked upon him as the God 
who had provided for me, being cast upon his care from 
my mother's womb ; and I was made to seek that he 
would do all things to them imported in his being a 
God- to them. My soul was made to melt down be- 
fore him, and dissolving in tears, to take hold of his 
word and promise, begging he would take them off my 
hand, and take all the care of them." 

His affection for his children, though exceedingly 



THE REV* RALPH ERSKINE. 



441 



tender, was enlightened and judicious, and prompted 
him, when circumstances required it, to mingle reproof 
with instruction and advice. 

" Sabbath, Nov. 19, 1732.— The Lord pitied me this 
evening after the exercise, when I came home and my 
wife had sent the children, Peggy, Harry, Johnny, and 
Ebie to me, having heard of Harry and Johnny some- 
times casting out in the school. I was helped very 
gravely to exhort and admonish them, and solemnly 
also at this time to call them to remembrance of their 
baptismal vows and engagements, which, being come to 
the years of capacity, they ought to consider and take 
upon themselves. Then I was helped in prayer with 
them, to pray that the Lord might put them among his 
children, who knows how to do for and how to take 
care of them, when some of their friends they have had 
are rotting in the dust. I observed my admonition and 
prayer were affecting to them, particularly Johnny and 
Harry, and, I think, Peggy. After they were gone, I 
got them in secret rolled over upon the Lord as a co- 
venanted God, and put them in his hand, and also the 
child unborn. I was made, with an outpouring of heart, 
to commend that child and them to the Lord." 

He takes notice repeatedly of his spiritual conversa- 
tion with his sons alone, and also of his attention to 
their literary progress. 

" Sabbath, June 2, 1732. — This evening, after I had 
prayed with Harry and Johnny, I got my heart poured 
out in secret. Psalm cii. at the close, was made useful 
to me, being the subject of my colleague's lecture this 
day. I got my children prayed for with a hopeful eye, 
looking to the promise of God, and the unchangeable 
perfections of God in Christ." 



442 LIFE AND DIARY OF 

" Sabbath^ Oct 12, 1735, — The sacrament was at the 
Queen's Ferry eight days before this. My sons Henry 
and John proposed that they might have liberty to go 
there, which I granted. Some days afterwards I inquired 
if they had a mind to participate. I found Johnny more 
clear on that head. He gave me some account of 
the Lord's way towards him. He had been made 
to suspect he was guilty of the unpardonable sin, till he 
read Mrs. [Elizabeth] West's book. He mentioned 
some words, on which the Lord had caused him to hope, 
particularly the following : — 6 I love them that love 
me, and they that seek me early shall find me : Deliver 
him from going down to the pit, I have found a ransom.' 
Harry, sometime before this, had come to me, com- 
plaining he was tempted to give over duty, because of 
what he heard respecting the fall of a person that was 
eminently pious, and at this time he spoke of his con- 
victions of his sinful state he had been under, and his 
having been made to seek after an interest in Christ, 
but durst not assert any thing positively. At the 
Ferry I gave them tokens to make use of, as the Lord 
should clear their way. They both communicated. 
When I inquired of Johnny afterwards, what had en- 
couraged him, he told me that that word ran through 
his heart, 6 He loved me and gave himself for me :' and 
that though he was confused in going, yet not in par- 
taking. Having asked Harry what encouraged him, he 
told me he had been in great fears lest he should com- 
municate unworthily, but that in hearing Mr. Thomson 
on the Saturday evening, his doubts were resolved, and 
he was encouraged to adventure to go to the table. I 
found matter of thanksgiving to the Lord that there was 
any such appearance of concern in them about the great 
salvation/' 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



443 



" Thursday, Nov. 4, 1736 — I went to Edinburgh, 

with my sons Henry and John to the college." 

" Nov. 2, 1737. — I went to Edinburgh with my two 
sons again to college. When I was led to exercise in 
prayer from time to time, they were always upon my 

heart." " Saturday, May 27, 1738. My sons came 

home from the college in Edinburgh." 

This affectionate father makes still more frequent 
mention of Margaret, his only surviving daughter, 
her early indications of piety as well as filial tenderness, 
the instructions he imparted to her, and the happiness 
she gave him. 

" Friday, April 14, 1732. This day my daughter 
Peggy was sent to Stirling to my brother, to be further 
taught I was somewhat sorry to part with her, find- 
ing her so careful still about me, which appeared partly 
that day I went to the Synod last week. When I was 
going off amid the rain, she dealt with me to stay, and 
the tear gushed in her eye. I noticed much of her 
mother's temper and careful disposition about her." — 
" Monday, Feb. 5, 1733. In the evening I was helped 
to pray particularly in behalf of Peggy, whom I was 
designing to send to Edinburgh for some time. My heart 
was poured out before God in view of his promise and 
covenant, that he would be with her, and keep her." 

" June 27, 1734. This evening my daughter Peggy 
spoke with me, desiring my prayers, weeping, and say- 
ing she could pray none. Some time ago I had bid her 
think of the sacrament. I was glad to get the commis- 
sion from her, directed her to Zech. xii. 10, that she 
might plead that promise of the Spirit. When I was 
alone, I got grace to pray particularly for her with my 
soul melting before God, looking to his word." — " June 



444 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



28. I looked to him in behalf of Peggy, that she might 
be fitted for the sacrament, and get the Spirit poured 
out upon her." — " Saturday \ July 19, 1735, I went to 
Kinglassie sacrament. I preached this day, as also on 
the Sabbath and Monday, upon Luke ix. 42. I served 
eight tables. While I served, I think, the fifth or sixth, 
I saw my daughter Peggy at the table before me ; and 
then the word 6 thy God and the God of thy seed' 
coming in mind, my heart was led to look to God in 
her behalf ; and being much helped and strengthened in 
serving that table, I was thereafter somewhat quick- 
ened." 

The bowels of a parent can hardly fail to be particu- 
larly moved, when his dear children are visited with 
painful and threatening distempers, and especially when 
they become the victims of death. The following ex- 
tracts may furnish a specimen of Mr. Erskine's feelings 
and exercises, under the influence of sanctified affection, 
on those trying occasions. 

" Nov. 1, 1733 My child Ralph grew worse, and 

took convulsive distress, through the trouble and pain of 
teething. This evening we thought he was just a-dying; 
in family prayer, I closed with commending him to the 
Lord. I had been singing Psalm viii. and in secret 
prayer afterwards, applying it as the Apostle to the He- 
brews does, to Christ, as having all things put under his 
feet, and being clothed with power, and crowned with 
glory and honour, I was, in some measure, helped to 
put him over upon this Jesus whom the Father loveth, 

and hath given all things into his hand desiring to 

give him also into his hand, that he might be saved by 
him." — u Nov. 4. This day the child was better." 

" Monday, June 24, 1734 This morning, after 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKIXE, 



445 



looking to the Lord in prayer, and going with the family 
to ordinances [at Carnock] I heard for a while Mr. 
Wardrope's sermon on that text, ' The cup which my 
Father hath given me, shall I not drink it.' In the 
midst of the sermon, an express, sent by my wife, came 
from Dunfermline to me, telling me of Raiphie's being 
threatened with death. I called my servant to get the 
horse, and sat hearing till that was done, and till the 
sermon was done, which I thought was very suitable to 
me, and which I heard with some application ; and then 
he gave out, Ps. xxiii. at the close, which I was helped 
to sing with some pleasure and melting of soul. Then 
I came off, without hearing the other sermon preached 
by my brother Ebenezer. When I came home, the 
child was no worse. Meantime I thought the Lord 
was justly chastising me, and that I had good reason 
to lay my hand on my mouth, whatever should be the 
cup he put into my hand." 

" Tuesday, Sep, 10, 1734. My sons Ralph and 
Daniel took the small-pox." — " Sep. 13. My concern 
this morning about the children was, that I did not wish 
them to be spared, unless it were for his glory, and 
that I would take his sparing, if he did so, a token 
he would provide for them, bless them, and be their 
God." — "Sabbath, Sept 15. In the evening, Ralph 
being worse, I prayed with my wife in prospect of his 
death. She told me of the liberty she had got this fore- 
noon in his behalf." — " Sept. 16. This forenoon my 
wife coming into my room, concerned in the view of 
Ralph's illness, who seemed to be dying, I went with 
her to my knees, and then devoted him to the Lord, 
craving it might be recorded in heaven, that we the 
parents of the child, at Christ's call, came to bring the 



i! 



446 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



child to him, that whatever he did with the body, his 
soul might be blessed and saved to the praise of his 
glorious grace, and that he might be a part of heaven s 
plenishing, and as a vessel of mercy filled for ever with 
the grace and fulness of God. Afterwards I essayed 
prayer for him alone, with some humble confidence in 
God, looking on the child as having no father that 
could do him any service, and therefore rolling him on 
the everlasting Father, in whom the fatherless findeth 
mercy." — " Sep. 17. 1 was made to say, let it be death or 
life, no matter providing thou be his God. I was help- 
ed to some ardency in this, and in seeking that the pro- 
vidence might have a purging and purifying effect on 
me."—" Sep. 18. My child Ralph was still weaker. I 
joined with my colleague, this day, in prayer for him, 
and for fruit by this rod to me and my wife, whom I 
found somewhat exercised, and brought to some sub- 
mission to the Lord's will. About the middle of the 
day I got him again cast over on the covenant. In the 
evening I was led to seek the Lord Jesus would bless 
the child, because God the Father had blessed him for 
ever, that he might be a blessing. Afterwards I was 
led to acknowledge his natural guilt and pollution and 
all his sins, and to plead the Lord would purge them 
away, and to look to the fountain of his blood. After- 
wards, that God would save him to the honour of his 
Son, that thus the Son might honour the Father ; and 
that the Holy Ghost might get the honour of applying 
the blood of Christ ; and then with some strength of 
concern to plead that Father, Son, and Holy Ghost 
might get glory in the salvation of the child. I was led 
to acknowledge the Lord was righteously angry with 
me, and to seek he might pity me, that I might never 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



447 



grieve his Spirit again. After this I prayed beside the 
child and the company, and was therein helped to some 
exercise of the same kind as in secret, and a little while 
after, about eight o'clock my child Ralph died, I en- 
deavoured, mean time, to comfort my wife ; and after 
his death, going to my closet, I got some grace to ac- 
knowledge the holiness, righteousness, mercy and faith- 
fulness of God in the dispensation, and had some con- 
fidence exercised in him as a promising God, notwith- 
standing his slaying dispensation. My heart was espe- 
cially poured out, and mightily melted in praying for 
the blessing of this rod to my wife and me, that it might 
be truly sanctified, and made a mean of the Lord's accom- 
plishing his word of grace, on which he had caused me 
to hope ; that it might be a mean of purging away my 
dross ; and that it might be blessed to the family, par- 
ticularly to the servant Jean, who had waited carefully 
on the child." 

" Friday, Sep. 20. This day, about nine o'clock, I 
interred the body of my son Ralph in the place where 
my sister and five of my children were buried. Glory 
to God for the ground of hope through Jesus Christ. 
This evening I was helped in secret to look for fruit by 
this dispensation. For this I prayed alone, and prayed 
with my wife." — " Sep. 21. I was enabled to look to 
God as the husbandman that was pruning me and my 
family by this providence, and thereupon to plead I 
might be purged to bring forth more fruit according to 
John xv. 2, and to seek that this also might be the 

blessing of the family wife, children, friend and 

servant. I had before this the faith of that word Ps. 
lxviii. 35, that the God of Israel only is he that giveth 



448 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



strength and power to his people, and sought I might 
find it to my experience, that so I might bless him." 

" Sabbath, Sep. 29, 1734 — The afternoon sermon 
by my colleague was somewhat quickening to me, to 
excite to confidence in the Lord as my only Lord and 
God. Afterwards in prayer this evening, I was made, 
with some sweetness and seriousness, to look to God as 
a God that rests in his love, that rests in his mercy, that 
rests in his truth, that rests in his name, and then to say, 
I have no rest for the sole of my foot; and viewing how 
he rests in Christ, I thought that here also was my rest- 
ing-place, since in him the covenant of promise stands 
fast, sealed with his blood ; and therefore I expressed 
my hope in him for his Spirit and presence, for his bless- 
ing to my wife and children, and particularly to the 
young afflicted child Daniel, whom I was made this 
night to lay over upon the Lord." — " Friday, Jan. 24, 
1735. The child Daniel grew still weaker. I was call- 
ed to see him, and pra} T ed for him with the family." — 
" Jan. 25. Daniel was so ill we looked on him several 
times this day as expiring. 1 prayed for him, I think 
believingly, with an eye to the covenant of promise, and 
to the name of God, and the grace of God reigning 
through the righteousness of Christ." — " Jan. 27. I 
prayed, £ Father, glorify thy name,' and so devolved 
the child on him, that in life or death he would glorify 
himself in his salvation." — " Wednesday, Jan. 29. 
Early this morning my son Daniel died. I was helped 
this day to look to the Lord, that he would bless this 
providence to my afflicted wife, when all the stock 
sprung of her body was cut off, I observed her many 
times greatly afFected: yet I had ground to think that 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



449 



Ralph's death was still as heavy to her as Daniel's." — 
" Jan. 30, I buried the corpse of my young son Daniel 
beside the rest of my deceased children." 

" Thursday, April 6, 1738. — I preached again on 
Ps. lxxiii. 26. I was helped and strengthened inwardly, 
and was directed to something suitable, namely, all 
things failing except God, and the relation to God in 
Christ, that never fails. Having somewhat of influence 
more than ordinary, it seemed preparatory to the trial 
of the threatened death to the young child Ralph, 
[the second of this name] who took the convulsions 
very severely that night, and also next day." — " April 
7. — The child was very ill. Last night and this morn- 
ing, I got grace to own the sovereignty of God, that 
he might condemn; and yet to plead, that since he 
would get more glory in saving through Christ, he 
might take the child and make him a jewel of the Me- 
diator's crown." — " Saturday, Apr. 8. — This morning, 
when I was pleading for the sick and afflicted child, I 
was helped to leave his temporal life at his pleasure 
who gave it ; but for spiritual and eternal life, and for 
God's being his God, I was made to plead it on account 
of the tenor of the covenant, and the condition of it 
fulfilled and finished by him who said on the cross, ' It 
is finished.' " — " Sabbath, Apr. 9. — This morning I 
was raised to see the child, on whom the disease was 
continuing and increasing. I prayed in company with 
the rest, and then retired to my room. I looked to 
the Lamb in the midst of the throne, and the blood 
of the Lamb sprinkling the mercy-seat, and sealing the 
covenant of promise ; and, on this ground, my heart 
was made somewhat easy with respect to the child. 
Afterwards I got the dying child put anew into the 



450 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



hands of the living Jesus, exalted to the Father's 
throne, praying he would glorify his name, and his 
Father's name, in the salvation of the infant, since he 
was exalted to the Father's throne a Prince and a Sa- 
viour." — " Monday, Apr. 10. — This morning I was 
wakened again to see the child die. Then I went to 
the room where he and the people were ; and in prayer 
I was led to run to the name of the Lord, as a strong 
tower, and under a gale of influence to leave the child 
in the midst of the tower, expecting he should be saved 
for the sake of God's great name. I then prayed alone, 
and was helped ; my heart was made quiet and com- 
posed. A very little after, the child departed this life 
about six o'clock in the morning. O may the Lord 
sanctify this dispensation to me, and to my wife and 
family." 

" Tuesday, Apr. 11. — This day / buried my child 
Ralph beside the rest that are dead. After the occa- 
sion of the funeral was over, about the middle of the 
day, I went to family worship, and was somewhat quick- 
ened ; afterwards, in secret especially, my soul was 
poured out before the Lord in the review of my sin- 
fulness, for which the Lord was breaking me, though 
yet, I hope, in mercy." 

His whole family, servants as well as children, ex- 
perienced the benefit of his vigilant and prayerful 
attention. The following expressions occur in his 
Diary : 

"March 3, 1734. — This evening in prayer, my heart 
was quickened and drawn forth towards the Lord and 
away from the world, with a desire that all present 
might be drawn to Christ." 

" March 9, 1734 — After reading I prayed, looking 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



451 



to the promise, and through that glass to the mercy and 
truth of God, thanking God that the living Spirit was 
promised, and looking to him for his blessing to my 
wife and children, and for provision to my family, twelve 
in number, including servants. I owned I could not 
provide for them, but looked to my heavenly Father, 
who has all things in his hand, to do it." 

We have also seen above the concern he expressed 
that the death of one of his children might be sancti- 
fied to the female servant who attended him. There 
is good reason, then, to conclude, that as a Mas- 
ter, he treated his domestics with equity and kindness, 
and was careful, by sound instruction and a judicious 
use of his authority, to lead " his household to keep the 
way of the Lord, and to do judgment and justice." 

Grandchildren are frequently the objects of a still 
more tender affection than a parent's immediate off- 
spring. The subject of this memoir had the happiness 
to see the children of his eldest son, the Rev. Henry 
Erskine. He baptized two sons and three daughters of 
Henry, being his whole family, with the exception of 
one daughter. With how great pleasure he performed 
these interesting services, and with what fervour he 
besought God to pour down the richest blessings of the 
covenant upon them, may be learned from the follow- 
ing letter : — 

" To the Rev. Mr. Henry E?skine } Minister of the Gospel . 

at Falkirk. 

" Dunfermline^ July 21, 1749. 

" Dear Henry, 

" 1 got not your letter, dated the 19th 
instant, till this day. And now I desire to bless the 



45-2 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



Lord with you for the merciful deliverance he lias 
given to your wife, and the new addition he has made 
to your family, by giving you a man-child ; and I pray 
he may be the Lord's, and that, as young Samuel, he 
may be lent to the Lord as long as he liveth. May he 
whose righteousness is to children's children, who said, 
; I will be thy God and the God of thy seed/ and whose 
promised blessing is to Christ and his seed, and his 
seed's seed for ever, even 4 the God who hath fed me all 
my life long unto this day. the angel who redeemed me 
from all evil. — bless the lad.' 

••' My wife and family congratulate your wife's de- 
liverance, and join with you in thankfulness to God for 
his mercies shown to you and your family. I perceive 
by your letter that you incline most to my coming to 
preach and baptize the child, as I return from Glasgow 
on Thursday eight days, if the Lord will ; therefore I 
agree to it, and give way to your making your intima- 
tion accordingly as you propose. Your letter to Las- 
so-die will be sent with the first occasion. I am, your 
affectionate Father." 

With the warm heart, and the pious feelings of a 
patriarch, he even anticipated the possible preservation 
of liis offspring till the end of the world, and poured 
forth his best wishes in favour of his descendants from 
age to age. A long entry, of date, November 22, 
1731, part of which was formerly quoted,* contains, 
accordingly, the following words : — " I had grace to 
look to God, that if he preserved my children after me 
to live and have an offspring, he would make his grace 



* Chap. i. Pp. 26, 2/. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



453 



and righteousness to extend not only to them, but also 
to their children, yea, and to their children's children, 
until Christ should come again in the clouds of heaven. 
This view I had, with some hopeful and pleasant out- 
pouring of heart before the Lord, remembering only his 
great name, and holy promise or covenant, as the 
ground of my suit." 

Similar petitions were preferred also at a subsequent 
date: — " Sabbath^ Dec. 2, 1733. This evening in se- 
cret prayer, my soul was cheered and inflamed in a be- 
lieving apprehension of God in his glorious perfections 
through Christ. I was made to declare my hope, my 
life, heaven and happiness, to be God himself, his wisdom, 
power, holiness, justice, mercy and truth, and his very 
being ; and to seek he would be with me in death when 
I went through that dark trance, and that because he 
hath said, 4 I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.' 
And having some renewed remembrance of that word, 
* his righteousness to children's children' ; I was made 
to look to him for my wife and children, seeking the 
Lord would be with my children, while I am with them, 
and after I am by death removed from them ; that he 
might bless them, and bless their offspring, if he would 
give them any, even to the second coming of Christ. It 
was with tears of joy, and with humble reverence, I was 
helped to look to a gracious God in Christ." 

Mr. Erskine showed by his conduct, that he felt the 
force of those endearing ties which the name of Brother 
imports. The evidence he gave of his fraternal dispo- 
sitions towards Philip, one of his father's first family, 
who became a Rector in the Church of England, was 

u 



454 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



noticed in a former publication.* His brotherly spirit 
was still more fully displayed in his attentions to ano- 
ther member of that family, whose eminent piety united 
with her relationship to secure his most cordial esteem. f 
Mrs. Balderston, as we have seen, repeatedly availed 
herself of the privilege of making him a visit at the sa- 
cramental solemnities of Dunfermline/): Nor did he, 
on his part, when he took a journey to Edinburgh, ne- 
glect to reciprocate her kindness. Both she, and her 
husband, who died in 1720, stood high in his regard. 
Her son George, the only survivor of a numerous fa- 
mily, having gone to reside for some time in a foreign 
country, he wrote him a long letter, dated Sep. 16, 1719, 
full of salutary counsel. She experienced, in short, his 
tender sympathy under her various bereavements and 
trials ; and, in a memorandum relative to her death 
and funeral, he bears the following testimony to her 
solid worth : — 

« Thursday, Oct 19, 1738 This day my brother 

and I were called to the funeral of my sister Mrs. Bal- 
derston. We came from Perth, Wednesday, and she 
was buried after sermon, on the fast-day. She was an 
eminent Christian, of signal experience, and was eighty- 
five years, being born in Galashiels, June 28th, 1653." 

A great share of his brotherly affection was also due 
to Margaret, his full sister, who resided with him, it 
appears, for some time after his settlement at Dunferm- 
line. It pleased Divine Providence, however, to remove 

* Life of Ebenezer Erskine, Pp. 42-44. 

f See Notices of Mrs. Balderston, Ibid. Pp. 44.46, 517, 518. 'j 
% Compare Pp. 55, 56, 57- 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



455 



her to the world of spirits in October 1713, about nine 
months before his marriage with Margaret Dewar. 
The tenderness and piety he discovered in his instruc- 
tive conversations with her, and earnest prayers on her 
behalf during the time of her mortal illness, are very 
apparent in a record of the circumstances taken by her 
not less affectionate brother Ebenezer.* 

No one of his father's descendants, however, could 
command his esteem, gratitude, and love, in a higher 
degree than Ebenezer himself. United alike by the 
bonds of nature and grace, associated in the ministry 
of the gospel, and residing at the distance only of about 
twelve miles from each other, they maintained the 
strictest friendship through life, and never ceased to 
keep up a frequent brotherly correspondence at once 
in a private and public capacity. ^Yhatever shades of 
difference may have distinguished their natural tempers, 
or whatever diversity may have occasionally character- 
ized their views, they cordially agreed on all the great 
points of Christian doctrine and practice, and on matters 
relating to the order and the liberties of the church of 
God. Whilst each of them thought for himself, they 
concurred almost universally on every question they 
saw discussed in the church ; and when, at any time, 
they viewed the same topic in a different light, they 
knew how to forbear one another in love. Deeply im- 
pressed with a sense of their mutual obligations, they 
rejoiced exceedingly in each other's prosperity and 
usefulness, and heartily sympathised with one ano- 
ther amid the changes and sorrows of life. Ebenezer 
testified his respect for Ralph, by employing him in 

* Life of Eben. Erskine, Pp. 270-273. 



456 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



1724, to celebrate his marriage with a daughter of the 
then deceased Mr. Webster ; and Ralph returned the 
compliment by requesting his services on a similar occa- 
sion, in February, 1732. We have seen Ralph's pious 
attention to Alison Turpie, in the season of great afflic- 
tion, and the fraternal kindness with which he comforted 
her bereaved husband on occasion of her death,* toge- 
ther with the corresponding care and condolence of 
Ebenezer towards Ralph, when tried with a like bereave- 
ment.f 

The numerous breaches which occurred in Eben- 
ezer's family, gave occasion to many kind and useful 
visits on the part of Ralph. At one of those interest- 
ing seasons, he joined a company of his brother's pa- 
rishioners, who, conformably to the custom of the age, 
watched the remains of the deceased child during the 
night. " One of the company told me," says an esteemed 
friend, " that the conversation was exceedingly instruc- 
tive and refreshing. On that night," he adds, " Mr. 
Ralph composed the verses entitled Smoking Spiri- 
tualized.'^ 

In the happiness, temporal and spiritual, of his bro- 
ther's surviving children, Ralph took a lively interest. 
His professional services were asked and cheerfully given 
on occasion of the marriages of at least three of his 
nieces ; — Jean, with the the Rev. James Fisher, July 
4, 1727 ; — Anne, with Mr. James JafFray, Stirling, 
Nov. 27, 1735 ; — Margaret, with Mr. James Ward- 
law, Dunfermline, Nov. 8, 1736. 

• Life of Eben. Erskine, Pp. 295, 296. 
f Ibid, p. 314. 

% Portmoak MS. by Mr. John Birrell. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



457 



His affection for Jean, the eldest of his brother's 
daughters, was often expressed. A kind and encou- 
raging letter addressed to her Nov. 3d, 1726, on the 
delicate subject of her proposed connexion with Mr. 
Fisher, is still extant. The following letter which he 
sent to her a few months after her marriage, is too valu- 
able to be here omitted. 

" Letter — The Rev. Ralph Er shine to Mrs. Fisher. 

« January 4, 1728. 

* My Dear Niece Jeanie, 

" I am sorry we have so 
seldom any communication with you, now that you are si- 
tuate in your married lot at a little farther distance from us 
than formerly. At the same time, though I hear seldom 
from you, I am satisfied to think that, in providence, 
you are privileged with good company and in comfort- 
able circumstances outwardly in many respects, even 
your external prosperity being what I would ardently 
wish and desire, so far as is consistent with God's glory 
and your good : For an absolute exemption from all 
crosses and trials in this world, could not be contribu- 
tive to either of these ends, according to the ordinary 
stated method of heaven, especially towards the children 
of grace, and consequently were not to be wished for. 
And, therefore, though the Lord hath mercifully pro- 
vided and ordered matters, I hope, very commodiously 
for you in a suitableness to your station, and blessed 
you with a kind husband as well as a Gospel minister 
in one and the same person, a competent living, a con- 
venient dwelling-place, and many comfortable accomo- 
dations, which ought to excite gratitude and thankful- 



458 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



ness ; yet as I hope you will never look upon any out- 
ward temporal enjoyments as your best and chief trea- 
sure, nor consequently give them the room which glo- 
rious Christ alone should have, so I shall wish you may 
be helped of grace to such a joyful yet spiritual and 
regular use of all outward mercies and comforts as may 
be consistent with a readiness to be divorced from them, 
whenever the Lord shall show that the time he gave 
them in loan to you is expired : For when providence 
says, in effect of any worldly comforts we may enjoy, 
as was said of the ass and her colt, Matth. xxi. 2, 3. 
' The Lord hath need of them,' then he expects that 
straightway we will send them. While they are tied, 
and he sees them needful for us, we are allowed thank- 
fully and comfortably to use them ; but when he seeks 
them to be loosed, and sees them needful for the ends 
of his glory and our good to be surrendered to him, 
then we ought with humble submission and content- 
ment to part with them at his call. 

" I desire to hope that the Divine blessing upon the 
good example and excellent education that you was 
privileged with in your father's family all along, to 
which I charitably presume that saving and effectual 
Divine teaching and instruction hath been mercifully 
superadded, will make that deportment, which I have 
hinted at, to be natural, easy, and pleasant to you, or 
at least excite you to such an endeavour after it as will 
be agreeable to those that are about you, and adorning 
to the Christian profession and Gospel character; to 
which the more conformed you are, the more will you 
show yourself a kind and loving wife to your husband, 
a wise and virtuous housewife to your family, and a 
pattern of discretion and civility to all your neighbours, 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



459 



as well as a serious seeker of and faithful servant to the 
Lord your God, not only as he is your father's God and 
your mother's God ; which you have ground to say, but 
especially as he is the God and Father of our Lord 
Jesus Christ, the glorious object of our faith and love. 

" If any good advices are deducible from what is 
above stated, I hope my former familiarity and intimacy 
with you as a friend and relative shall not make my 
present liberty and freedom with you as a Christian ad- 
viser the less acceptable, but rather the more so, since 
the former hath given me the better opportunity for the 
latter. But as I do not in the least suspect your kindly 
accepting of the freedom I use in this way, even though 
there were no such inducement thereto, so it will be 
always desirable and refreshful to me, to hear and un- 
derstand that, under the influence of heavenly instruc- 
tion and conduct, you are helped to outdo the advice 
of your best friends upon earth. I shall also be glad 
to hear that you enjoy the fruits of God's common pro- 
vidence with his special blessing, which alone maketh 
truly rich, and addeth no sorrow in the issue. After 
what I have here seriously delivered, I shall allow the 
inclosed diversion from my daughter. My wife gives 
her kind service to you and Mr. Fisher. I am, 

Your very affectionate Uncle, and humble Servant, 

Ralph Ersxine." 

The " diversion," referred to at the close of this letter, 
seems to be an epistle in verse, full of humour and vi- 
vacity, and consisting of about one hundred and fifty 
lines, composed perhaps by Ralph himself, but writ- 
ten in the name of his daughter Margaret to her cou- 
sin Mrs. Fisher, kindly reproving her for an appa- 



460 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



rent forgetfulness of her former friends and corres- 
pondents in Fife, and jocosely contrasting her advan- 
tages in Kinclaven with those she had once enjoyed at 
the foot of the Lomonds. 

Mr. Erskine's affection could not fail to descend to 
the numerous family of this favourite niece. The birth 
of one of them was announced to him by Mr. Fisher in 
the following terms : — 

" To the Rev. Ralph Erskine. 

Glasgow, March 24, 1743. 
" Rev. and very dear Uncle, 

" It pleased the Lord 
that my wife was safely delivered of a son upon the 12th 
instant. So soon as he was born I named him Ralph, 
and intimated that name when I presented him to bap- 
tism. My child, though outwardly beautiful and health- 
ful, yet bears the image of the first Adam. But the 
same grace that has defaced that image in the name- 
father is sufficient for the nameson." 

The kindness he owed to individuals, with whom he 
stood connected in consequence of marriage, was not 
neglected by this amiable man. In his Diary he re- 
peatedly alludes to the visits he received from the 
sisters and other relatives, both of the first and the 
second Mrs. Erskine, and to the endeavours he used to 
make his conversation with them spiritual and edifying. 
The following extract from a letter, addressed to Mrs. 
Scott of Gateshall about the commencement of the year 
1751, shows the sincere regard he felt for a pious aunt 
of his second wife, who resided in his house for a series 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



461 



of years. It relates to an interesting circumstance at- 
tending her death. 

" Mrs. Atchison, my wife's aunt, who lived with us, 
though she had her unbelieving doubts and fears, which 

she sometimes got above about three or four minutes 

before her death, she desired some beside her to read in 
the Song, ch. ii. ; and when they had read from the be- 
ginning to verse 10th, where the words are, < Rise up my 
love, my fair one and come away,' she there stopped the 
reading, and said, Thais it, Thais it; I have nomore time, 
1 must sleep ; and so instantly expired. I thought it worth 
telling you by what a kind call the Lord Jesus made her 
to breathe out her soul, and invited her into his bosom." 

As a Friend, Acquaintance, and Companion, the 
subject of this narrative was equalled by few. Com- 
municative, generous, candid, and faithful, he recom- 
mended himself to all whom he favoured with a share 
in his friendly regards. To whatever class or sex they 
belonged — -whether they moved in a public or a private 
sphere — he entered into their circumstances and feel- 
ings with sincerity and warmth, and was ever ready to 
promote their true happiness by his prayers, his coun- 
sels, and his efforts. His affectionate spirit is marked 
in the numerous elegies and epitaphs that he wrote in 
commemoration of departed excellence ; of most of 
which, deceased ministers are the subjects, while some, 
at least of the latter, relate to pious laymen. Among 
the monumental inscriptions published at the close of 
his works, we find, for example, one prepared for the 
sepulchral stone of Mr. " Colin Brown, late provost 
of Perth, who died in 1741, at the age of seventy-one ;" 
and wh om he commends as a man of prayer, a friend to 



462 



LIFE AND DI \ RV OF 



truth, and a blessing to his fellow-citizens, both in their 
civil and religious interests.* 

Integrity and piety never failed to secure his esteem ; 
and if ready to oblige a valued friend when alive, he 
was still more disposed to vindicate his character and 
embalm his memory, after his eyes had been closed in 
death. An additional instance of this laudable prompti- 
tude is supplied by a letter, which he wrote to his niece 
Mrs. Scott, in favour of the Rev. James Johnston, first 
minister of the Secession at Dundee, a short time after 
his decease ; from which we quote the following ex- 
tract : — 

" Very Dear Niece, 

" My wife put a letter of yours 
into my hand, desiring I might answer it, with refer- 
ence to Mr. Johnston's death, which you want to have 
an account of. I was at Dundee the day after the 
death of that worthy servant of Christ, and was em- 
ployed in the last duty to him, of carrying his head to 
the grave on Saturday, Nov. 17th, 1750. I was part 
of four days in that place, and had occasion to con- 
verse with his wife and all that were present with him 
during the time of his illness, and got account both of 
his disease and his deportment under it. His disease 
was what they call a nervous fever, or a fever of the 
spirits, a very ordinary thing, by which many are called 
off the stage. In this case, seldom doth, or can any 
escape roving, and there was no other kind of rovings 
he had, as to the manner of them, than any other man 
in the world is liable to in a raging fever. As to his 



* Works, vol. ii. p. 783. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



463 



deportment in the intervals of the fever, none could 
express themselves more spiritually and judiciously tl; D 

he did. He spoke of the short way wherein God 

took Enoch and Elijah to heaven, and said, that through 
miracles were not to be expected, yet God was about 
to take him a short way also. At other times he said 
to those about him, < O saw ye him whom my soul 
loveth ? Go and pray ; pray, and tell him that I am 
sick of love.' Such words as these, uttered with great 
distinctness and fervency, passed from him, till at last, 
his spirits being spent and wasted, he lay calm for many 
hours, and went off the stage without the least struggle, 
and. as it were, in the most easy sleep. 

" In his lifetime he gave many evidences of his being 
a wrestler with God, and he remained faithful unto 
death in the truths of the glorious Gospel, in the preach- 
ing whereof he was a burning and a shining light. He 
was decently and most respectfully attended in his 
funeral by all ranks of persons in Dundee, and interred 
in the midst of his own kirk, where no man lay before 
him. I preached all the following Sabbath there, (the 
subject of lecture being Rev. xi. 17, 18, the subject of 
sermon Ps. xxxvii. 37.) to a very great and crowded 
auditory, multitudes being obliged to go away, because 
they could not get in nor hear. His memory is most 
savoury in all that bounds, and even in these bound-. 
The last sermons he had at the sacrament here and at 
Kinross were such as, I am told, God made a savour of 
life unto many. I remain your most humble Servant, 
and affectionate Uncle, 

Ralph Ekskine. * 
Amid the differences and separations that took place 



464 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



among brethren, his feelings, in common with others, 
were sometimes unduly excited, and his expressions 
immoderately severe. Yet his native candour and 
charity often broke forth, and he had no wish to fo- 
ment or perpetuate contentions among the friends of 
Christ. We might appeal to the tenor of his last letter 
to Mr. Warden on the Marrow Controversy.* His 
deportment also towards several others of his former 
associates in the ■ ministry, discovers the same excellent 
spirit. Mr. Alexander Wardrope of Whitburn having 
declined joining the Associate Presbytery, after holding 
a conference with them, some of their number pro- 
ceeded, when he had retired from their presence, to 
speak somewhat strongly to his disadvantage, for his 
want of decision and public spirit ; but Mr. Erskine 
checked them with the remark, " he can pray as well as 
any of us, let us remember that." When he was itine- 
rating in the year 1739, he embraced an opportunity, 
according to his own statement, of calling for Mr. 
Wardrope, and for Mr. Bonar of Torphichen.f On 
their part too, they expressed gratitude for his friendly 
visit. To Mr. Wardlaw, his former colleague, he paid 
great attention. His calls were often repeated, and 
always well received. The expressions of mutual 
Christian affection that passed betwixt Mr. Ralph and 
Mr. Willison, when the latter found himself at the 
gates of death, are particularly refreshing. The two 
following letters exhibit the character of both to ad- 
vantage : — ■ 



* Page 70. 



■f- Page 278. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



465 



Letter — The Rev. Ralph Erskine to the Rev. John 
Willison.* 

" Dunfermline, Feb. 7, 1750. 
" Very Rev. and Dear Brother, 

" Having heard from 
my brother Mr. Johnston, that your distress and weak - 
ness of body continues to increase, and that since the 
time I last saw you, you have come to no greater mea- 
sure of health, but rather seem to be hastening nearer 
and nearer to your change ; — I thought it proper to 
show my sympathy with one for whom I have always 
had a great regard. Whatever differences have taken 
place anent some things, by reason of different degrees 
of light in the dark valley of the world, yet it never 
lessened my esteem of you, as one that, I was per- 
suaded, desired to be faithful to the truth and interest 
of our Lord Jesus Christ, and whom I hope the Lord 
will now ripen to make ready for the full enjoyment of 
himself. 

" Rev. Dear Brother, I hope that, as you have taken 
up your rest by faith in Christ as the Lord your righ- 
teousness and strength, so when flesh and heart shall 
fail you, you will, through grace, lay your head in his 
bosom, and remain confident in this, that whatever 
winds blow or waves beat, even amid the swellings of 
Jordan, your rock remains firm and immovable ; and 
that you shall endure as seeing him that is invisible, 
when all visible and sensible things give way and dis- 

* This letter is copied from the Christian Repository, vol. iii. 
p. 85. 



466 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



appear, until faith issue in fruition. This being all the 
bearer's time allows me to add, 

" I remain, very Rev. and Dear Brother, 

Your's very affectionately 

Ralph Erskine." 

" P. S. — While you live, mind in your prayers Zion, 
and those you may leave behind you." 

Letter. — Rev. John Willison to Rev. Ralph Erskine.* 

Dundee, 13 Feb. 1750. 
" Very Rev. and Dear Brother, 

" I thank you sincerely 
for your most Christian sympathising letter by Mr. 
Johnston to me, a poor dying man, who am still draw- 
ing nearer to my change ; and I thank you for the par- 
ticular regard you express to me, notwithstanding of 
the different degrees of light in the dark valley of this 
world. May the back-view of these make us long to 
be ripened for that world of light where divisions have 
no place. Though I sometimes aimed to be concerned 
for the truth and interest of our Lord Jesus Christ, and 
to appear as I could for the same, yet I renounce all 
these appearances, and all my other doings, as filthy 
rags, and desire only to take up my rest in Christ as 
the Lord my righteousness and strength, and to lay 
down my head in his bosom, when my heart, flesh, and 

* This letter is copied from the original of the venerable 
writer, which is still extant. It was also published in the Christ. 
Repository, vol. iii. Pp. 202 ; 203, and in Mr. Brown's Collection, 
Pp. 182, 183, 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



467 



strength fail me, as they are daily doing. O let me just 
die, like Simeon, with Jesus in my arms, saying, 6 Now 
lettest thou thy servant depart in peace ; mine eyes have 
seen thy salvation.' I acknowledge my attainments are 
small, and manifestations few, yet sometimes I would be 
for saying, < I will remember the Lord from the land of 
Jordan, the Hermonites, and the Hill Mizar ;' — Though 
in the meantime I would flee from all past experiences 
to a present offered Christ, and a present offered perfect 
righteousness, and depend entirely thereon. I rest, I 
hope, I live on this righteousness ; I die, leaning and 
resting wholly on this bottom ; all other bottoms are 
false and deceiving. 

" I desire also to die, like Moses and Aaron, at the 
foot and commandment of the Lord. Though they 
wished to be over Jordan to see the glory of the pro- 
mised land, yet God denied it to them, but made it up 
abundantly, by giving them presently the glory of hea- 
ven. So, though I may not see the glory of Christ's 
kingdom coming here on earth, yet I will submit and 
die at his command ; praying that you and many thou- 
sand others may see it, and my loss be made up with 
Jesus himself for ever. — Farew r ell, dear brother in Christ. 
May the Lord grant us a happy meeting with Jesus in 
the promised land, where w 7 e shall mutually rejoice in 
him, and embrace one another without a grudge. Surely 
there is nothing here tempting, to make us draw back, 
or desirous to stay. Alas ! I see nothing but a daily 
continued backsliding into the pit of corruption. May 

the Lord himself pity My weakness causes me to break 

off, and only add, that I remain, Rev. Dear Brother, 
" Your affectionate dying Brother in the Lord, 

John Willison." 



468 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



The following anecdote regarding a personal inter- 
view that took place betwixt Mr. Willison and Mr. 
Erskine at Dundee during the same mortal illness, is 
credibly related. While these two men of God were 
speaking pleasantly to each other concerning that happy 
country where the saints are perfect in knowledge and 
in love, a pious lady present who was warmly attached 
to the national church, addressed Mr. Erskine in these 
words ; " Ay, Sir, there will be no Secession in heaven." 
" O Madam," he instantly replied, " you are under a 
mistake ; for in heaven there will be a complete Seces- 
sion from all sin and sorrow." " With pleasure," said 
Mr. Willison, " do I adopt that view of Secession." 

On various occasions Mr. Erskine discovered much 
of a pacific and forgiving spirit. At one time an elder 
thought proper to protest against a very harmless deed 
of Session in which he himself had formerly acquiesced, 
and in the course of his arguing accused him, in no 
measured terms, of pride and ambition. At the close of 
the answers returned to the reasons of his protest, he 
freely forgave the unprovoked reproaches of this incon- 
siderate elder in the following terms : — " Mean time, as 

to G 's railing words formerly mentioned, Mr. 

Erskine, to show himself of another spirit than they im- 
port, and charitably constructing them to be the erup- 
tions of sudden passion, not the image of his deliberate 
judgment, cordially forgives him the same ; and from a 
regard to the example and command of our meek Lord 
Jesus, who has said, fi Pray for them that despitefully 
use you,' he desires to pray that G 's strange ex- 
pressions may be forgiven of that God, to whom we 
must be accountable ere long for all our thoughts, words, 
and actions." 



THE REV. RALPH ERSK1NE. 



469 



In his intercourse with friends, whether at home or 
abroad, the spirituality of his mind was apparent. We 
had occasion formerly to notice the interesting confer- 
ence that took place betwixt him and Mrs. Erskine of 
Portmoak, with its important results, as overheard by 
his brother Ebenezer.* In his Diary he often alludes 
to the pious and profitable conversations he held with 
ministers and others. " My colleague," says he in one 
passage, " came and talked with me a good time. We 
had edifying discourse, which I loved, and liked to con- 
tinue in, particularly about exercise of heart, the pro- 
mises, and faith acting on the Lord's word ." " This 

evening," he states elsewhere, " Mr. Mair and my col- 
league were with me ; and we had some useful conver- 
sation." In a number of entries he expresses his regret 
at the prevalence of mere worldly talk, and his earnest 
desire to do good to his acquaintance by edifying dis- 
course. " I was uneasy," says he at one time, " at 
carnal conversation, and glad of opportunities to con- 
verse about spirituals." At another time he thus refers 
to the subject of one of his petitions : — " My desire was 
that the Lord would make me to glorify him, that he 
would make me a blessing, and enable me to adorn re- 
ligion by a cheerful and yet an edifying conversation." 

Conformably with this request, he was enabled to 
mingle cheerfulness with gravity, To recreate himself 
and friends, it is said, he sometimes performed on the 
violin. His constitutional propensities, it is certain, were 
on the side of frankness, good humour, and innocent 
hilarity. When he took a journey to the south of Scot- 
land shortly after the commencement of the Secession. 



* Life of Rev. Eben. Erskine, p. 82, 



470 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



he paid a visit, we are told, to the Erskines of Dry- 
burgh. From his ministerial strictness, and his faithful 
contendings against the prevailing party in the church, 
they expected to find him gloomy and austere ; but were 
agreeably surprised, when they saw the urbanity of his 
manners, and the native kindness and cheerfulness that 
graced his demeanor. 

From conscientious motives, he was careful to repress 
profane swearing wherever he found it indulged in ; and 
according to tradition, he discovered considerable in- 
genuity in the measures he employed to curb and pre- 
vent it. On one occasion, when crossing the Forth, he 
begged the boatmen, some of whom he knew were ad- 
dicted to this odious sin, to guess what his own first 
name was. They spent the whole time of the passage 
in forming fruitless conjectures on this point ; and thus 
he escaped the great annoyance of profane language. — 
On the streets of Dunfermline, when passing a group of 
boys diverting themselves with some amusement, he had 
the unhappiness to hear one of them swear. Without 
knowing which individual had been guilty of the offence, 
he took a sixpence out of his pocket, and said he would 
instrument (solemnly protest) against that boy. Owing 
to the caution of the other boys, who were unwilling to 
expose their comrade, he could not immediately detect 
him, but at last succeeded. The little culprit, convicted 
by his own conscience, confessed his fault, and received 
the money, but expressed his earnest wish that the minis- 
ter would take it back. Mr. Erskine, however, refused to 
comply with this request, and persisted in his refusal, till, 
after many serious conversations with the boy in his ow r n 
house, he gave evidence of being considerably impressed 
with the great evil of taking God's name in vain. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



471 



The truly Christian benevolence of this good man 
appeared in a variety of forms. While it inspired him 
with zeal for civil and religious liberty, it created a 
sincere attachment to social order and tranquillity. The 
whole tenor of his life was calculated to refute the 
charge of disloyalty, rashly preferred against him, in 
common with his brethren, by some violent enemies of 
the Secession. The schemes of those who, on religious 
pretexts, held it culpable to pray for kings, or to obey 
human laws, not inconsistent with the laws of God, 
met his decided opposition. His views on this point 
are clearly expressed in a short poem, entitled, " Scrip- 
ture Authorit}^ for subjecting unto, and praying for, 
Civil Magistrates," which begins thus : 

" To civil powers let great regard be given, 
And human laws that cross not those of heaven."* 

In his unwearied efforts to promote the interests of that 
kingdom, which consists in righteousness and peace, his 
benevolence was conspicuously displayed. He gave 
his countenance and support, as we have seen, amid 
the difficulties they had to contend with, to enlightened 
and pious young men, whom he expected to become 
hopeful instruments in promoting the cause of Christ, 
and the welfare of souls.f The worthy Mr. Brown of 
Haddington, among other candidates for the ministry, 
experienced the benefit of his friendship in early life ; 
as appears from the following extract of a letter from 
his eldest son, dated " Whitburn, October, od, 1830:" — 

* Works of R. Erskine, vol. ii. Pp. 786, /87- 
•f See page 173. 



472 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



" My late father acknowledged in his last days, he 
apprehended he was greatly benefited by Mr. Ralph 
Erskine's ministry, when he attended it while residing 
at Gairney Bridge ; and that Mr. Erskine recommended 
him with much affection to the Synod as a student, 
when they met at Falkirk in 1748. Perhaps he could 
never have had access to the ministry, but by means of 
Mr. Ralph Erskine." In another communication to 
the writer, the same Mr. Brown adds, that, when Mr. 
Erskine was introducing his father to the brethren at 
Falkirk, one of them proposed an objection, founded on 
the absurd calumny, that he had got his learning from 
the devil ; but Ralph replied, " I think the lad has a 
sweet savour of Christ about him " 

Mr. Erskine gladly embraced opportunities of giving 
his counsel to students and preachers with regard to 
the books they should peruse, and other points of im- 
portance. Boston on the Covenant of Grace, we are 
assured, is one of the books he strongly recommended 
as calculated to assist them in forming clear views of 
the plan of salvation. 

Possessing a truly apostolical spirit, " the care of all 
the churches" devolved upon him. He was prepared 
tenderly to sympathize with Christian congregations, 
amid the afflicting bereavements and perplexing diffi- 
culties they experienced. One example of this com- 
miseration is supplied by a memorandum we have found, 
of some petitions which he publicly offered up at King- 
lassie, at the sacramental solemnity in June 1731, shortly 
after his brother's translation from Portmoak to Stirling 
had been appointed by the church courts : — 

" Let the poor congregation lately deprived of their 
minister by a cast of the hand of Providence, in calling 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



473 



him elsewhere, be pitied and provided for. O give 
them grace to believe that all things are in Christ's 
hand. Help them to see and to say, it is the Lord 
that gives, and the Lord that takes away. In the 
mount of the Lord let it be seen, the Lord will provide 
for them. And provide for other desolate congrega- 
tions in these bounds. There is the more need of thy 
doing, that comfortable settlements at this day are ren- 
dered so hard and difficult, through the pride and cor- 
ruption of man. Lord, deliver this poor church from 
the heavy yoke of patronage, and from all the grievances 
under which it groans. Lord, mercifully bless that 
congregation, which is in view of being settled with a 
more full ministry, at the expense and loss of another. 
May all things be ordered to a comfortable account, 
and to the edification of poor souls." 

Actuated by the same excellent spirit, he afterwards 
befriended the erection and support of new congrega- 
tions, and cheerfully exercised his talents in obviating 
prejudices, and healing differences, injurious to their 
peace and prosperity. The Associate Congregation of 
Haddington, among others, profited in their state of in- 
fancy, by his valuable services as a peace-maker. Hav- 
ing given a call to the Rev. George Brown to be their 
pastor, prior to the call he received from the congrega- 
tion in Perth, thrown vacant by the lamented death of 
Mr. Wilson, they were pleased to take offence at the 
decision of the Associate Presbytery, by which the pre- 
ference was given to that far more numerous commu- 
nity. But Mr. Erskine, who had reasoned and voted 
in their favour, being sent by the Presbytery to con- 
ciliate their minds, his soft and prudent counsels sue- 



474 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



ceeded, in some degree, in allaying their displeasure, and 
regaining their confidence. 

The first Associate Congregation in London was also 
indebted to the kind interest he took in their welfare. 
In the year 1748, when a few young men from Scotland, 
who had previously held meetings for prayer, applied to 
the Associate Synod for a supply of preaching, several 
members of court opposed the granting of their request, 
on the ground that there was no probability of success, 
and that the proposed congregation would become a 
heavy burden to their funds. Mr. Erskine, however, 
who was the medium of this application,* maintained 
that duty required them to embrace the opportunity now 
presented of promoting the cause of religion, and showed 
how much their having a church in London would con- 
duce to the benefit of young people educated in the 
Secession who went to reside in that city, and what a 
source of satisfaction this would prove to their parents ; 
on which no further opposition was made, and a preacher 
was appointed to repair to London. 

The details, in short, of his labours and journies, and 
of his correspondence with Christian ministers in distant 
places, contained in several preceding chapters, appear 
sufficient to show that he was surpassed by few of his 
contemporaries in zeal for the interests of truth and 
peace, and for the wide propagation of the Gospel. 
Whatever spots and deficiences may be discerned in his 
character, (" for there is no man that sinneth not") he 
exemplified, above many, that love which is " the end 
of the commandment," and " the fulfilling of the law." 



Records of Associate Synod, in MS. Pp. 981, 982, 1006. 



THE REV. RALPH 



ERSKi NE. 



475 



CHAPTER XI. 

Mr. Erskine^s characteristics as a Preacher — Sincere — Profound 
— Evangelical — Practical — Experimental — Choice of Texts — 
Gift of Prayer — Instances of Success — Publications — Editions 
and Translations of his Sermons — Testimonies to their excel- 
lence and utility — Gospel Sonnets , and other poetical works. 

The sketch attempted in the two chapters immediately 
preceding, relates chiefly to the excellencies of this emi- 
nent individual as a man and a Christian, who walked 
with God, and manifested the salutary influence of piety 
in the various relations of life. The course he pursued 
as the pastor of a Christian congregation was described in 
a former part of these memoirs* Yet it will be proper 
to advert somewhat more particularly to his attainments 
and usefulness as a Preacher of the Gospel. 

Nature and grace united to furnish him for this in- 
teresting and arduous employment. " If Mr. Erskine 
is considered as to his natural endowments" says one of 
his surviving friends, " he possessed many fine quali- 
ties; he had a sweet temper, a clear head, a rich inven- 
tion, a lively imagination, and a great memory. If he 
is viewed as to his acquired abilities, he was well ac- 
quainted with all the useful branches of literature, being 
an able scholar, an accurate logician, and a penetrating 
philosopher. If he is considered as to his office, he M as 



* Chap. ii. 



476 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



a great and judicious divine, a pious and evangelical 
preacher, an accurate critic, and an able casuist."* 

His principal qualifications for preaching the gospel, 
no doubt consisted in the grace and spiritual gifts with 
which he was endowed. Out of the abundance of the 
heart his mouth spoke. Love to his Master, and an 
ardent desire to promote the salvation of precious souls, 
made him faithful and zealous in his work. At the close 
of a series of unpublished sermons on Christ " the 
image of the invisible God," (Col. i. 15,) preached pro- 
bably in the year 1717, that superiority to sinister mo- 
tives and disinterested concern for the spiritual good of 
his hearers of which he was conscious, is expressed in 
the following terms : 

" And now, dear friends, I have been endeavouring 
to preach Christ to you from this text ; and 1 hope to 
preach him still, as long as God allows me to preach 
among you. And woe will be to you, if you live and 
die without a due improvement of this glorious gospel, 
which is the doctrine of a God in Christ reconciling the 
world to himself. God worshipped out of Christ is an 
idol, and all hope of acceptance out of Christ is a dream. 
O then let Christ, above all things, have the pre-emi- 
nence among you. What doth God care for your 
coming to church, if you will not hearken to what he 
says, and come to his Son. Or do you think that I 
study one preaching after another to tell over to you, 
merely to put off the time. Nay, the Lord is my wit- 
ness, that it is the desire of my soul that you may be 
convinced and converted, and brought to Christ. It is 

* Account prefixed to his Works in 8ro, vol. i. p. xvii. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



477 



not your applause that I want, for that can do me little 
good. If my heart deceive me not, it is not your ap- 
probation of my discourses, but your answering the call 
of God in his word of grace that is my aim. Little 
matter what you think of me or my preaching. Let 
me decrease in your esteem as much as you will, but 
let Christ increase among you, and then in the close of 
the day, I shall have joy, and you will have advantage. 
Let my person be ever so contemptible, yet I magnify 
mine office ; for I am called to preach among you 
the unsearchable riches of Christ. And by virtue of 
this office, it is not me but Christ you have to do with ; 
and therefore it is at your peril, if you neglect this glo- 
rious gospel of Christ. O go to God this night, and 
never give him rest, till you be brought, in some mea- 
sure, to behold his glory in the face of Jesus, who is < the 
image of the invisible God.' " 

As a preacher he w r as considered judicious and pro- 
found. " He was an able, close, and clear reasoner, 
and could, w T hen he set himself to it, exhaust a subject."* 
" Luther remarks," said a deceased friend, in a letter 
to the writer, " that a divine who can distinguish well, 
is an able divine. I think Mr. Ralph Erskine had a 
good deal of this gift. See his sermons on Christ the 
people's covenant, law-death gospel-life, the pregnant 
promise, and an inference in the sermon from 6 who 
loved me and gave himself for me.' "f His talent for 
research and discrimination, however, did not preclude 
a certain vivacity of sentiment and style, fitted to allure 
the hearer. " He was blessed with a rich and fertile 

* Account prefixed to his Works in 8vo. p. ix. 
•f Rev. John Brown, Whitburn. 



478 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



invention, as appears in the agreeable and entertaining 
diversity wherewith his heads of doctrine are every 
where adorned. The poetical genius with which he was 
happily endowed, contributed not a little to the embel- 
lishment of his discourses with a variety of pertinent 
epithets, and striking metaphors/'* 

The evangelical tenor of his preaching, conformably 
to the statements formerly made in reference to his ef- 
forts in the Marrow controversy, f formed one of its 
most prominent characteristics. He peculiarly delighted 
to proclaim the grace of God in its admirable glory, 
freeness, and extent, to make ample exhibitions of 
" Jesus Christ and him crucified" to guilty and perish- 
ing men, to remove stumbling-blocks out of their way, 
to obviate their difficulties and objections, and by the 
most powerful arguments and affectionate entreaties to 
£< compel them to come in. "J His sermons were sig- 
nallv calculated to humble the sinner, to exalt the Re- 
deemer, and, at the same time, to promote the interests 
of holiness. 

He was truly a practical preacher. With him, the 
inseparable union of an unfeigned faith of the truth 
with the cultivation of a holy temper and conduct, was 
never lost sight of. We find from his printed works, 
and still more from his unpublished manuscripts, that 
the duties of Christianity occupied a large share of his 
ministrations, and that he did not neglect to reprove 
prevailing sins and omissions with unshrinking fidelity. 

* Account by Rev, James Fisher, in the folio edition of his 
Works, vol. i. p. ix. 
+ Pages 178, 17^. 

+ See Brown's Gospel Truth, Pp. 133—136. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



479 



For specimens of his faithful remonstrances, we might 
refer to his searching addresses immediately before the 
administration of our Lord's Supper, to his discourses on 
self-conceit and nonconformity to the world, and other 
topics, and to the uses of reproof that occur in the ap- 
plication of many of his sermons. 

An increased interest was often given to his illustrations 
and admonitions from the pulpit, by seasonable and 
striking allusions to the events of providence. On some 
occasions he referred expressly and at large to facts of 
foregoing times, detailed in the page of history ;* and 
frequently did he call the attention of his hearers to re- 
cent occurrences, and administer appropriate counsels, 
as to the part it became them to act, and the practical 
lessons inculcated by the affecting operations of the 
Lord's hand. In this manner we find him improving 
the invasion and rebellion I715,f an extraordinary 
drought in summer 1 723, \ the rumours of a Spanish 
war in 1729, and again in 1733,|j a great mortality by 
small-pox 1734,§ the calamities of war with France and 
Spain in the year 1739,^ the deaths of ministers, and 
other interesting events. 

While he approved himself a devout and skilful dis- 
cerner of the signs of the times, the utility of his dis- 
courses was still more effectually promoted by his great 
attention to the human heart, and his singular talent in 
accommodating his instructions to the varied conditions, 

* See the Sermons on the Pregnant Promise and the Strength 
of Sin, vol. i. Pp. 427, 529, folio, 

f Vol. i. p. 647. $ Ibid. p. 1C8. 

|| Ibid. p. 578, 683. § Ibid. p. 720. 

f Ibid. vol. ii. Pp. 86, 251. 



480 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



difficulties, and exercises of the godly and thoughtful. 
For this reason, many were pleased to distinguish him 
by the designation of the experimental preacher. " He 
had a dexterous faculty," says Mr. Fisher, " in ransack- 
ing the plagues of the heart, and describing the diversi- 
fied circumstances of serious and exercised souls, as if 
they had fully communicated to him their several doubts 
and cases ; while, in the meantime, he was only unfold- 
ing the inward experience of his own soul, what he 
himself felt of the workings of unbelief, and of the power- 
ful influence of the Holy Spirit in opposition there- 
unto."* 

c< He could the saints' perplexities well trace, 
And in all straits afford them great solace. 
Souls exercised concerning sin or grace, 
May in his works find what will suit their case. 
There he propounds and solves each case he heard ; 
To saints a mighty casuist appeared. "•(• 

In choosing subjects and texts, he seems, with Dr. 
Owen, to have often given the preference to those 
which had been powerfully impressed upon his own 
heart ; and he had repeated occasion to observe, that 
when he essayed to comfort others with the comfort 
wherewith he himself was comforted of God, his own 
consolation was renewed and confirmed. The truth of 
this statement appears from numerous memoranda in his 
Diary, and even from several passages in his Works, as 
in his discourse on Rev. vii. 17, where he says: " I 

* Preface to Works in folio, vol. i. p. ix. 

f Poem to the Memory of Rev. R. Erskine, in Works, Svo. 
vol. i. p. xxiv. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



481 



have been led, without any design in me, but only as 
the text was pleasant to my own soul, to speak of the 
very sum and centre of ecclesiastical government, 6 the 
Lamb in the midst of the throne.' " 

The simplicity of his diction, and the pathos of his elo- 
cution, were in excellent keeping with the importance of 
his theme, and the warmth of his heart. " His style was 
natural, unaffected, manly, and scriptural. Indeed, he 
studied much to adapt himself to the capacity of the audi- 
tory, never choosing, in his public appearances, to come 
to his hearers with the enticing words of man's wisdom, 
but to preach the truths of the everlasting gospel in their 
genuine purity and naked simplicity He had a 
pleasant voice, an agreeable manner, a warm and pa- 
thetic address. An aged and pious female who had 
often heard him in her youth, long since eulogised his 
appearance to us in these words, " I really thought 
that his face shone." His hearers were accustomed to 
speak of the frequent raising of his hand in the pulpit 
as expressive of the elevation of his soul. It is alluded 
to in the following lines : — 

" His silver tongue did living truth impart, 
With raised hand, fit emblem of his heart. 
He saw, he felt, he sung redeeming love, 
Death called him hence; he tunes his harp above.'* 

Mr. Erskine was thought to excel no less in conduct- 
ing the devotional exercises of the sanctuary, than in 
illustrating the truths, and inculcating the duties of re- 
ligion. From the fervour of his pious feelings, and his 

* Account prefixed to Works in 8vo. vol. i. p. ix. 



482 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



frequent approaches to the throne of grace in his closet 
and family, as well as from his familiar acquaintance 
With the Scriptures and with his own heart, one may 
readily conclude, that his public prayers must have 
been eminently adapted to arrest the attention and im- 
press the minds of Christian assemblies, and to raise 
their thoughts and affections, with his own, to God and 
the things above. Ebenezer Erskine, according to his 
own account, " had some meltings of soul," during the 
time of his brother's prayer, previous to the distribution 
of the sacramental elements.* 

The following expressions, which he seems to have re- 
corded as a memorandum of part of a public prayer on a 
day of humiliation preparatory to the administration of 
the Lord's Supper, are quoted from one of his note-books : 

u Alas ! we live amid many dark and dismal days of 
wrath, wherein God is frowning upon our mother- 
church, and frowning on all her children. O may we 
have one glorious day of the Son of Man amongst all 
our gloomy days. May the Sun of Righteousness range 
the clouds, and dart a beam of light upon this assembly. 
O for a thick shower of heavenly influences to make a 
glorious communion in this place. Does not the dry 
ground of our hearts need such a shower, especially on 
a humiliation- day ? We come to set our parched and 
withered souls under the drop of thy ordinances. Lord, 
if we have a Bochim on the fast-day, may we not ex- 
pect a Bethel on the feast-day. A shower of influences 
would make a shower of tears among us. Lord, come 
and thunder out of Sinai upon the dead and obstinate 

* Life of Ebenezer Erskine, p. 159. 



THE REV. RALPH ER3KINE. 



483 



hearts that are here, to prepare them for coming to 
mount Zion, the city of the living God. Lord take 
thy bow in thine hand, and shoot off the arrows of con- 
viction to pierce the heart of the enemies of the king. 
Our time will soon be at an end ; our praying time, our 
preaching time, our hearing time, our communion time, 
will soon be at an end. Death will in a little cut our 
breath and send us to eternity, and part us and ordi- 
nances for ever. If we be not joined to the Lord in 
ordinances now, then in a little God and we must part 
for ever and ever ; but if God and we meet together 
graciously in time, then we shall meet together gloriously 
in eternity. O send forth thy light and thy truth, let 
them lead us to thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles.' — 

The ministrations of this devoted servant of Christ 
were highly valued by his own people, and by Chris- 
tians of every class in the various places where he oc- 
casionally preached. A striking evidence of his great 
popularity at home is supplied by the circumstance that, 
as was formerly stated, when he seceded from the judi- 
catories of the establishment, he was followed by nearly 
the whole parish. Some individuals travelled every 
Sabbath from a considerable distance to hear him. One 
Andreio Small of Kinnesswood, who died in 1798 aged 
84, prior to the settlement of Mr. Swanston at Kinross^ 
went from that village every Lord's day for a series 
of years, to wait on his ministry. He considered his 
(i Sabbath-day's journies very pleasant walks, and never 
wearied."* Mr. John Kinninmonth, a most spiritually- 
minded man, and many years a venerable elder in the 

* Pious Memorials of the Parish of Portmoak. 



484 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



first congregation of the United Secession church 
Auchtermuchty, who departed this life near Kinghorn 
in the month of Feb. 1812, at a very advanced age, al- 
ways spoke of Mr. Erskine with much warmth, and 
esteemed it a high privilege that eight years of his youth 
had been spent under his ministry. 

Both before and after his secession from the national 
church, the sacramental solemnities of Dunfermline were 
attended by vast numbers from different parts of the 
country. 

The following notes, accordingly, occur in his 
Diary : — 

44 July 18, 1734. — There being such a multitude of 
people, and thirty-three tables, the service was not over 
at twelve o'clock [midnight,] and I began to preach be- 
twixt twelve and one on that text, 4 Behold, thy time 
was the time of love,' and the congregation was dismissed 
betwixt one and two in the morning." — 44 Sabbath, July 
6, 1735, The sacrament of the Lord's supper was ad- 
ministered. My action sermon was upon Rev. xxii. 1. 
I was helped, especially in the application, and carried 
through the work with some hope that the Spirit of life 
was present. There were thirty-eight tables, and a most 
numerous congregation." 

The real utility of his labours was no less evident than 
their high acceptability. Though he deplored the un- 
godliness and indifference of many of his people, he re- 
joiced, as we have seen, in some of them, as seals of his 
ministry.* The few following entries, selected from his 
journal, afford additional proof of this pleasing result :— 

44 Friday, June 1, 1733 — This day I examined at 



See Pp. 91, 92, 253. 



THE REV. RALPH ER5KINE. 



485 



Wkitefield. Mrs. Spence walked out with me, and in 
coming home, we had some pleasant conversation. She 
told me that my preaching was the first means of cheer- 
ing her with the gospel." 

" July 9, 1735. — This afternoon I was made to un- 
derstand that a young woman in Mr. WellwoocTs family 
was brought under deep exercise at this occasion, [the 
Lord's Supper having been administered a few days be- 
fore.] I conversed and prayed with her, and found in- 
deed the Lord had awakened, and given her a clear 
view of her natural state, and of her utterly destitute 
condition. She owned she never heard the gospel 
preached in the manner as here, nor such large offers of 
Christ, and vet she remained dead. She had formerlv 
communicated at Edinburgh, but was crying out, 4 O 
dreadful ! I was guilty of the body and blood of Christ. 
I never saw his glory, I was but a moral formalist. 5 I 
spoke to her case as I could, May the Lord carry on 
his work/' 

"March 15, 1737. At this time Sarah Murray 
was lying ill of the trouble whereof she died this week. 
She had been in the church on Sabbath, and told me 
this evening how remarkable and refreshing the sermon 
on death was to her. I was helped in praying with her 
both this night and next morning. She was one of the 
most exercised, tender, solid Christians in all this con- 
gregation." — " Saturday. March 19. This morning 
when 1 awakened, my heart was melted with the 
thought of Sarah Murray's death. I sought the same 
Spirit to rest upon me, that was so much with her. T 
went this day to her burial. I conversed with her 
daughters, both promising young lasses, who, weeping, 
told me some of her dying words. Being asked what 



4S6 



LIFE AND DIARY Of 



she thought of death, she answered that death was to 
her an unstinged death, a conquered death. She said 
she would not part with her interest in Christ and the 
covenant of promise, for ten thousand worlds : also that 
he had been her God and guide from her youth. 
Being asked by her daughters what would become of 
them when she was leaving them, she answered, 1 Seek 
the Lord and his strength ; seek Iris face evermore.' I 
was affected both in hearing the account, and in seeking 
a blessing and giving thanks. As I came home on 
horseback, I conversed with a young lad, who called 
Sarah a mother to him, and told what good the Lord 
had done him by her influence, example, and direction, 
and. weeping as he went, was blessing the Lord that 
ever he was cast into the company of such a one." 

" Feb. '24. 1739. — [After alluding to his keeping a 
fast every Saturday, alone and with his family alternately, 
he adds.] " The Lord owned me therein, and the Sab- 
baths following these fast-days have been somewhat re- 
markable ; for I found myself helped and strengthened, 
and many have signified to me how much it appears 
that the Lord was in the public ordinances. I under- 
stand that evidences of the Lord's presence and coun- 
tenance were much spoken of, both during this last v in- 
ter season, and also this spring.'''* 

To these authentic notices by his own hand, we may 
add a few instances of the good effects of his ministry, 
gleaned from other sources. 

His sister Mrs. Balderston, in her Diary, mentions 
the comfort which not only she, but other Christians in 
Edinburgh, reaped from his sermons.—" Mareh 13. 
1718. On the Friday, my brother Mr. Ralph preached 
in the New kirk. His text was in Exod. xxxiii. 6 And 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



487 



he said, I beseech thee show me thy glory.' Many came 
from it, rejoicing in the Lord." 

His usefulness to Mr. Brown of Haddington in early 
life has been noticed above.* That eminent man, " in 
his last days, being engaged in conversation with a 
brother, Dunfermline was mentioned ; upon which Pie 
said, that with pleasure he recollected the time when he 
went over the hills of Cleish from Gairney Bridge, to 
hear that great man of God, Mr. Ralph Erskine, " whose 
sermons," said he, " I thought were brought home by 
the Spirit of God to my heart; at these times I thought 
I met with the God of Israel, and saw him face to 
faee."f 

Alexander Pearson, a godiy man of the parish of 
Portmoak, spoke feelingly on his death-bed of the bene- 
fit he had derived from the services of Ralph, as well as 
Ebenezer Erskine, and other ministers. Referring to 
a sacramental occasion at Orwell, he said, " O how 
cheerfully did I go to the table. I enjoyed a heaven 
upon earth that day. Mr. Ralph Erskine served a 
table on the fulness of the gospel, and sacramental 
feasts. O that was a good time to my soul.'i 

" An eminent Christian told me," says a minister 
lately deceased, in a private letter, " he was once at 
Linton, where Mr. Ptalph Erskine preached on these 
words, 6 The power of the Lord was present to heal 
them.' To him it was a wonderful sermon, and he 

thought it was the same to others." " An old man," 

says the same esteemed correspondent in another com- 



* Pages, 471, 472. 

f Gospel Truth, p. 138. 

$ Pious Memorials of the parish of Portmoak. 



488 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



munication, " a respectable elder at Bathgate, told Mr. 

C s he was an attender at Seceding communions 

from the beginning, and was once at Burntisland. Un- 
der the precious truths uttered by Mr. Ralph, he said 
he had a heaven upon earth, particularly in serving a 
table. When he spoke of this sixty or seventy years 
after, the tears ran down his cheeks."* 

Another example of the lasting impressions received, 
under the divine blessing, from his personal ministra- 
tions, may be taken from a short account, published in 
a periodical, of the late Rev. William Wilson, of the 
United Associate congregation, Nicolson's Street, Green- 
ock, who died March 9, 1831 : 

" Mr. Wilson was a native of Dunfermline, his 
mother, who died at an advanced age not many y^ars 
since, having been brought up under the ministry of 
the Rev. Ralph Erskine. Of the days of her youth, 
and of the powerful ministry of that distinguished man, 
she was accustomed to speak with peculiar warmth, 
quoting passages of his sermons and of his sacramental 
addresses, and noticing an impressive gesture which he 
had used when animated, and which she denominated 
6 the ca of his hand.^-f 

One instance more of the happy success with which 
it pleased his Divine Master to crown his labours, is too 
interesting to be omitted. This example occurred in 
the family of his much beloved friend and brother, the 
Rev. William Wilson of Perth. " Marjory, his 
eldest daughter, died at the age of sixteen. A sermon 
she had heard at Kinclaven sacrament by the Rev. 

* The late Rev. John Brown, Whitburn, 
r Theological Magazine, vol. vi. p. 288. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



489 



Ralph Erskine of Dunfermline, on that text, 1 They 
shall mount up with wings as eagles,' had brought her 
mind under very serious impressions. During the re- 
mainder of her life she often spoke of this sermon, and, 
on her death-bed, the remembrance of it yielded her 
much comfort."* 

Influenced by the numerous and urgent solicitations 
of pious hearers, this zealous minister not only preached 
the gospel from the pulpit, but availed himself of the 
facilities afforded by the press, for diffusing the savour 
of the knowledge of Christ. In some instances indi- 
viduals took the liberty, without previously asking his 
consent, to publish his discourses from notes taken by 
short- hand writers at the time they were delivered. 
Hence, in the advertisement prefixed to an edition of 
the sermon on Christ the People's Covenant, printed 
1725, the publisher states, that u the author neither 
revised the manuscript, nor corrected the printed 
sheets f and adds, " it is hoped the author will not be 
too much offended, that it is thus exposed to public 
view." In other cases, however, he seems to have fur- 
nished the publisher with his manuscript. At all events, 
betwixt the year 1722 and the time of his death, his 
discourses on about forty texts were given to the world, 
and extensively circulated in small duodecimo pam- 
phlets, most of which, in that form, reached three or 
four, and some of them five or six editions. 

The productions of Ebenezer and Ralph Erskine, 
having attracted the attention of several pious ministers 



* Ferrier's Memoirs of the Rev. VT. YTilson, p. 377- 



490 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



in England, a selection from the numerous detached 
sermons of both brothers was published in London in 
octavo. A first volume issued from the press under the 
superintendance of the Rev. Thomas Bradbury, who 
introduced them with a recommendatory preface, dated 
March 3, 1737-8. The second volume of this collec- 
tion appears to have been brought forward under the 
auspices of the same celebrated divine ; and, in the year 
1757, a few years after the decease of both the Erskines, 
a new edition of these two volumes, the first of which 
had previously undergone two impressions, was published 
at London, with the addition of a third volume, recom- 
mended in a preface written by a different clergyman, 
whose name is withheld. 

The publication of Mr. Ralph Erskine's Practical 
Works in two volumes folio was contemplated soon 
after his death ; but, owing to various hinderances, it was 
not accomplished till after the lapse of twelve years ; 
the first volume having appeared in 1764, and the 
second the year following. Mr. John Newlands the 
Editor, bookseller in Glasgow, and son-in-law to Mr. 
Erskine, was determined to execute the design faithfully 
and honourably. His address " to the public," inserted 
at the beginning of the first volume, conveys a favour- 
able impression of his attention and disinterestedness, 
in his manner of conducting it : " He resolved with 
himself, when he first proposed this undertaking, either 
to have the work done in such a manner as would reflect 
honour upon the worthy author, yield pleasure as well 
as profit to the reader, be a credit to himself and an 
honour to his country, (being the first of its kind for 
largeness and elegance that ever was published as the 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



491 



composition of a Scotch author.) — or not to have emitted 
it at all into the world. How he has accomplished his 
resolution, the public are left to judge." 

Beside the poetical pieces subjoined, these volumes 
contain, including a great proportion never published 
before, about one hundred and forty sermons, founded on 
about seventy-six different texts of Scripture. Twenty 
of the sermons were preached immediately before the 
celebration of the Lord's Supper, five on the evenings 
of communion Sabbaths, and five on fast-days held in 
different places. The whole series is arranged mostly 
in the order of time in which the discourses were de- 
livered. The type is excellent ; and, by a generous de- 
viation from his original proposals, the editor " printed 
the whole upon a superfine demy paper." Great pains 
were taken to correct numerous inaccuracies that had 
disfigured the preceding editions of the sermons formerly 
published. To elucidate passages in which the author 
alludes to " the occurrences and transactions of the 
time," explanatory notes were added at the foot of the 
page. To large tables of contents at the beginning, a 
copious alphabetical index is subjoined at the close. 
Mr. Fisher of Glasgow not only wrote the " Short Ac- 
count of the Author prefixed," but was in all probability 
the writer of most of the notes and illustrations. The 
execution proved highly satisfactory to the subscribers ; 
of whom lists are given, from which it appears that 
more than seven hundred copies were subscribed for. 

No other folio edition has since appeared. The whole 
practical works of Mr. Erskine, however, have been re- 
peatedly printed in octavo. The first edition in this 
form, consisting of ten volumes, was published at Fal- 
kirk, by Patrick Mair for Hugh Mitchell, in the year 



492 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



1794. By whom the Account of the Author prefixed 
was composed, we are not informed ; but it seems to be 
the same as that contained in the folio edition abridged 
and improved. It is succeeded by a " Poem to the 
Memory" of Mr. Erskine, consisting of eight lines in 
Latin, and nearly two hundred in English, written about 
thirteen years after his death ; to which is added " an 
Acrostic" on his name. A numerous list of subscribers 
is appended. 

Several similar editions of his practical works have 
been subsequently printed in different places for the 
booksellers in London and elsewhere. The circulation 
of his discourses has also of late years been promoted 
by the pious attention of individuals and societies, who 
have published selections from them in a variety of 
shapes. In the year 1 821, the Rev. Samuel M'Millan, 
Aberdeen, gave to the world, in two volumes 8vo, " The 
Beauties of the Rev. Ralph Erskine, being a selection 
from the Sermons of that eminent Theologian, of the 
most striking illustrations of Gospel- doctrine," with a 
short Memoir prefixed. This selection, which is re- 
commended by a number of respectable ministers as 
" highly creditable to the judgment of the editor, and 
much fitted for general usefulness," has passed through 
several editions. A number of his sermons, as the Rent 
Vail of the Temple, and Faith's Plea on God's Word, 
have also been published separately by the Tract Socie- 
ties of London and Dublin, in the form of small tracts ; 
by means of which they readily find their way to the 
cottages of the poor. 

The utility of these evangelical discourses has been 
still further extended by means of translation. If we 
are not misinformed, the London Collection of Sermons, 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



493 



by Ebenezer and Ralph Erskine, in three volumes, has 
been turned into Welsh, and circulated among that in- 
teresting people to a considerable extent. It is, how- 
ever, a more remarkable fact, that all the published dis- 
courses of both these reverend brothers have been trans- 
lated into the Dutch language, and most favourably 
received in Holland. In a note near the beginning of 
the Account of Ralph Erskine, that appears in the Fal- 
kirk edition of his works, 1794, it is said, " We have 
even seen a few of them printed in Dutch." But more 
ample information on this subject has lately been re- 
ceived. In an excellent publication that has recently 
Issued from the press, distinct notice is taken of the 
translation by Mr. John Boss, Rotterdam, " of all the 
prosaic writings of Ebenezer and Ralph Erskine."* We 
have had the satisfaction to see the entire translation, 
consisting of twelve thick but handsome volumes in 
small octavo, including recommendatory addresses, some 
of them of considerable length, by two native clergy- 
men of high respectability. These discourses in Dutch, 
which began to be translated about 1744, have under- 
gone many impressions, and they still continue to be 
extensively read in that country .f " Ebenezer and 
Ralph/' says an esteemed correspondent, " are as great 
favourites among the Dutch as they still are among 
our Scotish peasantry. On a market-day at Rotterdam, 
I have often been amused and pleased in overhearing 
the boors or farmers around a stall of books, eagerly in- 
quiring for the works of Erskeyna ; for thus did they 
pronounce the name." 

* Steven's History of the Scottish Church, Rotterdam, p. 198. 
+ See Appendix, No. xii. 



494 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



Waiving ail critical discussion regarding the merits of 
Ralph Erskine's discourses, let it suffice to notice some 
attestations that have been given to their substantial ex- 
cellence and spiritual utility. It seems unnecessary to 
repeat the extracts formerly produced in joint com- 
mendation of the works of his brother and himself, from 
the pens of the Rev. Thomas Bradbury, William 
Cudworth, James Hervey, and Augustus Top- 
lady.* To these the following may now be added : — 

The author of the preface to the last of the three 
volumes of Ebenezer and Ralph's sermons, published 
together in London in the year 1757, thus expresses 
himself respecting " these reverend and worthy bro- 
thers :" " I think it may be said, with the strictest re- 
gard to truth, that their praise in the gospel is now 
spread abroad throughout the churches of Christ in 
Britain, Ireland, and America ; and they have obtained 
the best epistle of commendation, even a testimony in 
the consciences of not a few of the children of God, 
who have reason to bless his name for the great spiri- 
tual benefit and advantage they have reaped by the 
perusal of the valuable labours of these his servants, on 
whom he has bestowed such eminent ministerial gifts 
and abilities." 

The Rev. Adam Gibb, while in terms abundantly 
strong he expresses his disapprobation of Mr. Ralph 
Erskine's writings relative to the burgess oath, has the 
candour to observe respecting him ; that " his name and 
just reputation were of great importance to his cause, 
he having been long a very eminent light in the church, 
and one whose memory as a minister of the gospel 



* Life of Rev. Eben. Erskine, Pp. 489—491. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



495 



must be precious, from the various works which lie had 
then given to the public, so long as the gospel continues 
to be dispensed in the English tongue."* 

The late Dr. John Mason of New York did not 
hesitate to acknowledge his esteem for Mr. Erskine, and 
the benefit which, at a very early period of his life, 
he had derived from the perusal of his works. The fol- 
lowing circumstance is related in a sermon preached on 
occasion of the death of that able and eloquent man. 
" When ten years of age, he was the subject of deep 
religious impressions. He has often remarked, inci- 
dentally, that at that period, he took Ralph Erskine's 
6 Faiths Plea upon God's Word' to the garret of his 
residence, and read, and wept, and prayed."t 

The worthy Dr. John Colquhoun of Leith, who 
was himself a great admirer of Ralph's sermons, a few 
years before his death gave an esteemed friend the fol- 
lowing account of what passed regarding him, in a con- 
versation he had held in his own house with an eminent 
London bookseller. " Who do you think," said the 
bookseller, " is the most popular religious writer at pre- 
sent ?" " I cannot tell," answered the doctor. " It is 
Ralph Erskine," was the reply ; " we sell more of his 
writings than of any other divine, Scotch or English. 5 ' 
He added that his discourses are much valued by pious 
clergymen of the church of England. 

" Of Mr. Ralph Erskine's writings," says a writer in 
a biographical work at present being published, " it is 
scarcely necessary to speak, any more than of his cha- 

* Gibb's Display of the Secession Testimony, vol. ii. Pref. p. i. 
•f Sermon by Dr. Joseph M. Elroy on occasion of the death of 
John M. Mason, preached at New York, Jan. 23, 1830. 



496 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



racter. They have already, several of them, stood a 
century of criticisrn > and are just as much valued by 
pious and discerning readers as they were on that day 
when they were first published. Models of composi- 
tion they are not, nor do we believe that they ever were ; 
but they are rich with the ore of divine truth, and con* 
tain many passages that are uncommonly vigorous and 
happy."* 

Whilst both brothers were held in high estimation by 
the religious public at large, and have been styled " the 
idols of the body" (the Secession church) of which they 
were eminent members, it might appear invidious to in- 
stitute any comparison betwixt them as preachers and 
authors. Suffice it to observe, that Ebenezer was pecu- 
liarly distinguished for manly sense, a dignified appear- 
ance, and commanding elocution ; but Ralph was thought 
to excel in critical acumen, and, at the same time, in the 
superior unction and affectionate earnestness with which 
he entered into the varied circumstances and feelings of 
serious hearers, f Their comparative merits are briefly 
alluded to by the Reverend author of an account of 
Chirnside parish, in the following terms : — " The tomb- 
stones of the church-yard cannot be passed over, as 
they exhibit that of the Rev. Mr. Henry Erskine, first 
minister of the parish after the Revolution 1688, whose 
sons Ebenezer and Ralph were the principal and famous 
leaders of an open and well-known secession from the 
established church. The first was reckoned the 
pillar of the party ; while Ralph was allowed to be 

* Chalmers's Lives of Distinguished and Illustrious Scotsmen, 
Art. R. Erskine, Pp. 267—271. 
•f Brown's Gospel Truth, p. 137. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



497 



the best scholar, with a vein for Latin and English 
poetry."* 

The controversial writings of Ralph having been se- 
verally referred to before, in connexion with the dis- 
putes by which they were occasioned, it is scarcely ne- 
cessary to allude to them again e The ablest, as well as 
the most unobjectionable among them, was no doubt the 
work entitled " Faith no Fancy." It has been eulogized 
as a " work singularly valuable, in which the author has 
given the greatest display of his abilities, both as a Di- 
vine and a Philosopher — a book that effectually silenced 
all his opponents, and stands to this day unanswered."f 
A celebrated Professor of Philosophy in a Scotch Uni- 
versity, lately deceased, is reported to have expressed 
great admiration of the ability and acuteness discovered 
in this work. 

The share Mr. Erskine took in composing that useful 
publication, " the Synod's Catechism," has been adverted 
to in the memoirs of his brother.^ It was there stated 
that the original materials prepared by him in short- 
hand characters, extending from the 76th to the 95th 
Question of the Shorter Catechism, are still extant. 

His Poetical Works come now to be noticed. Of 
these the Gospel Sonnets are unquestionably the most 
useful and important. The composition of these Son- 
nets, or Spiritual Songs, in six parts, namely, the Be- 

* Statist. Acc. of Scotland, vol. xiv. No, I. Parish of Chirn- 
side, by Rev. Walter Anderson 5 D. D. 
•j- Account prefixed to his Works in 8vo. 1794, p. xiii. 
X Pages 493, 494. 



498 LIFE AND DIARY OF 



liever's Espousals. Jointure, Riddle. Lodging. Soliloquy, 
and Principles, appears to have been his chief re- 
creation in the earlier years of Iris ministry. The first 
edition seems to have preceded all his other publications, 
and was published anonymously. He afterwards en- 
larged it. and gave his name. " This book underwent 
several impressions at Edinburgh, some of them without 
his name and very incorrect ; but at length, upon leave 
asked and given, it was re-printed at London with large 
additions and great improvements made by himself, up- 
wards of ten years before his death."* His Diary con - 
tains repeated allusions to the revising of the Sonnets, 
and discovers the humility, and the pious intentions, 
with which he applied himself to the work: 

" Dec. 31, 1733. I had another letter from [Mr. 
John Oswald at the Rose and Crown] London, earnestly 
desiring the Gospel Sonnets, which I was preparing for 
a new edition." — " Jan. 23, 1734. I was helped to 
look for his blessing to attend nry work in framing the 
Sonnets, that they might be for his glory, and the good 
of manv souls." — ;i Sabbath. March 3. 1734. This 
evening, after family worship, I was strengthened mighti- 
ly in secret prayer. 1 was made to look to the 

Lord, that the Sonnets might be made useful even when 
I was in the dust, and was led to seek I might be made 
to glorify the Lord Jesus. Here I thought with deep 
humiliation of my unworthiness, and what a wonder it 
would be, if by the like of me his truth might be spread, 
and his name celebrated ; and I thought none in the 
world had so good reason to glorify him and magnify 
lii- name, as I. My heart was poured out and humbled." 



* Works in folio, vol. i. p« xvi. 



THE REV. RALPH EBSKINE. 



499 



— % June 1, 1734. I wrote a Preface for the Gospel 
Sonnets." 

The modest preface here referred to might serve to 
disarm the severity of criticism. He states that he did 
not pretend to write for the entertainment of men of 
learning and refinement, but for the instruction and edi- 
fication of those of meaner capacity and inferior educa- 
tion. " I can offer no other apology," says he, " for 
my rudeness of expression, besides the want of a culti- 
vated poetical genius, than this, that most of the lines 
are set down in the very first unrefined dress wherein they 
were presented to my mind, when I thought and wrote 
upon these subjects ; nor could the vacant minutes bor- 
rowed from my other weighty work allow me leisure to 
study that politeness and elegancy of phrase, which 
more time, leisure, and pains, might have hammered 
out."* Adverting to the treatment the Riddle, in par- 
ticular, had met with from some who had ignorantly 
censured, and from others who had profanely derided it, 
he defends its paradoxes with considerable success, and 
shows that they are justified by the texts of Scripture 
annexed. He commends the whole book to the care 
and protection of God, expecting it still to pass through 
4i good report and bad report." " It never promised 
much," he says, " to them that seek nothing but plea- 
sure and satisfaction to their fancy ; but I have heard 
that it has done some service, and I hope, through the 
blessing of heaven, it may yet do more, to them that 
seek profit and edification to their souls."f 

This small book of Spiritual Songs, notwithstanding 
its unpretending diction and " homely rhyme," has un- 

* \Torks, vol. ii. p. 5Jo. 
f IHd. Pp. 5:50— 582. 



500 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



dergone a vast number of impressions, and, by " the 
blessing of heaven," on its evangelical contents, has en- 
lightened and refreshed the souls of thousands. Its 
value has been experienced by Christians in England, 
Wales, and America. It has been translated, we are 
told, into Welsh, and much esteemed among that peo- 
ple.* A lady in New England long since acknowledged 
her obligations to it, in a Poem dedicated to the author, 
usually prefixed to the work. The late Andrew 
Fuller of Kettering, in an account of his first religious 
impressions, introduces the following statement : " One 
day, in particular, I took up Ralph Erskine's Gospel 
Sonnets, and opening upon what he entitles, ' a Gospel 
Catechism for Young Christians, or Christ all in all, and 
our complete redemption,' I read, and as I read, I 
wept. Indeed I was almost overcome with weeping ; 
so interesting did the doctrine of eternal salvation ap- 
pear to me/'f 

A considerable number of the pious have found their 
spiritual comfort much advanced by committing many 
of these songs to memory, and frequently repeating 
them. This was the practice of several devout in- 
dividuals in the parish of Portmoak ;| and it is recorded 
of the late Rev. David Wilson of the United Associate 
Congregation, Cumnock, that having treasured them up 
in his mind in early life, he often quoted interesting 
verses from them in his addresses at the Lord's Table 
with great effect. || 

* Brown's Gospel Truth, p. 156. 

+ Dr. Ryland's Life and Death of Rev. A. Fuller, p. 13. 
J Pious Memorials of parish of Portmoak, Art. Eben. Birr ell 
and Janet Louden. 

|| Christian Monitor for 1823, p. 130. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



501 



From the numerous encomiums that have been passed 
on them, we may select the few following : — 

" I take this opportunity," says the Rev. Thomas 
Bradbury, " of recommending those hymns and spi- 
ritual songs for the sweetness of the verse, the disposi- 
tion of the subject, the elegance of the composition ; 
and, above all, for that which animates the whole, the 
savour of divine and experimental knowledge.''* 

The celebrated Mr. Hervey, Rector of Weston- 
Favell, entertained a high esteem for the Gospel Son- 
nets, as well as for the sermons of Mr. Erskine. 
" During his last illness, a pious gentleman from Glas- 
gow, concerned in the publication of Ralph Erskine's 
works, in folio, waited upon Mr. Hervey for a recom- 
mendation of them. He was not able to write, but dic- 
tated one to the gentleman. Having asked what the 
intended edition would cost, it was answered, ' two 
guineas/ Mr. Hervey, pointing to the Gospel Sonnets, 
which lay on his table, and had been much blessed to 
him during his weakness, replied, ' There is a produc- 
tion of Mr. Erskine, I value more than two guineas.' "f 

The last eulogy on the Sonnets to be here produced, 
is one that appeared some years since in a provincial 
newspaper, and is understood to have come from the 
pen of a learned professor in connexion with the Church 
of Scotland. Influenced, perhaps, in some degree by 
an amiable fondness for youthful recollections, this ta- 
lented man bestows far higher praise than has been 
usually awarded to Mr. Erskine as a poet : — 

* Pref. to 1st Vol. of Coll. of Sermons by Eben. and Ralph 
Erskine. 

•j- Brown's Life of Hervey, p. 397, 3d edition. 

Y 



502 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



61 We refer without hesitation," says he, " to the 

i Gospel Sonnets and Spiritual Songs of the Rev. 
Ralph Erskine,' — an author, who, independently of all 
that quaintness of thought and expression to which, 
from the nature of his views, and perhaps of his age, 
he was exposed, is, notwithstanding, a Poet, and ( a 
Sacred Poet,' of no mean character. Party spirit, ori- 
ginating in his church politics, no doubt contributed 
long to procure for him an undue reverence from the 
mob, whilst it prevented men of literary character 
and attainments from reading his productions. But 
the lapse of upwards of a century has contributed 
greatly to the removal of that false medium through 
which recent events and characters are apt to be 
viewed, and has presented us with 6 a new edition of 
Ralph Erskine's Gospel Sonnets and a new and a 
more just, and consequently more consistent appre- 
hension of his real merits. Without ranking him with 
Milton or Klopstock, who are in fact the Homer and 
Virgil of sacred epic, we may fairly and unhesitatingly 
class him with Ramsay and Burns, (we only refer to a 
poetical, not a moral resemblance) — the Horace and 
Catullus of Lyric poetry. Ralph Erskine, indepen- 
dently of his great learning and classical acquirements, 
which he has evinced in several most beautiful Latin 
odes, possesses that power of imagination, and truth of 
feeling, which are the alpha and omega of a poetical 
temperament. He writes with apparent ease, and with 
so truthful an appeal to the heart, and in particular to 
that heart in which he is particularly interested, the 
heart of a Christian, that he requires only to be read 
under an atmosphere of right Christian sentiments to 
be fully appreciated, and greatly and justly admired. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



503 



We are quite sure that no one ever repented 

having read, even occasionally, and partially, the works 
of this author ; and we are quite sure that a careful 
and systematic perusal has always opened up new 
views, and increased respect for this learned, conscien- 
tious, and highly respectable poet. In early life we 
were ourselves brought acquainted with this author, 
and many of his more catching couplets have so iden- 
tified themselves with the general current and charac- 
ter of our thoughts, that they have become, as it were, 
a part of our moral constitution, and are associated 
with all that is fresh, and lovely, and endearing, in re- 
collections of youth. What we have ourselves, through 
the blessing of a pious parentage enjoyed, we would 
not willingly withhold from others, even from those lit- 
tle embryos of manhood which are at present hanging 
around the knee and upon the lips of teachers, and are 
laying up treasures of delight, or storing up sources of 
reliance against the manhood of their being. But we 
must now conclude with a few quotations in illustra- 
tion of the statements, which, viewing the present age 
as one of a very mixed and a very contradictory char- 
acter, we may truly be said to have risked." 

" Take the following song of 6 Heaven desired by 
Saints on Earth,' as an example : 

c Happy the company that's gone 

From cross to crown, from thrall to throne ; 

How loud they sing upon the shore, 

To which they sail'd in heart before ! 

Bless'd are the dead, yea, saith the word, 
That die in Christ the living Lord, 



504 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



And on the other side of death 

Thus joyful spend their praising breath : 

Death from all death has set us free. 
And will our gain for ever be ; 
Death loos'd the massy chain of wo, 
To let the mournful captives go. 

Death is to us a sweet repose, 
The bud was op'd to show the rose ; 
The cage was broke to let us fly. 
And build our happy nest on high. 9 

" Nothing, we will boldly venture to assert, ever ex- 
ceeded in true pathos, and beautiful moral energy, those 
lines which we have printed in italics. 6 The opening 
of the bud to show the rose,' is fresh and immediately 
from nature herself, in one of her sweetest and most 
alluring attitudes ; and 6 the breaking of the cage,' and 
< the building of the nest/ though they may be objected 
to by the over fastidious, will be felt in all their true 
character by those who permit themselves to judge 
from their own consciences, rather than from the opi- 
nion of others." 

This ingenious writer then remarks, that " the work 
and contention of heaven is likewise most power- 
fully given ;" and, after quoting some verses from it, 
he concludes with these words : — " We ask our readers, 
whether or not the author, who could write in the man- 
ner which we have exhibited, should continue to be 
regarded by a reading and an intellectual public, as a 
mere dull, droning, canting enthusiast, without one 
spark of the true poetic fire to recommend him."* 

The next exercise in verse to which he turned his 
* The Fife Herald for Thursday, December 16, 1824. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



505 



attention after finishing the Gospel Sonnets, was the 
one entitled, " A Paraphrase, or Large Explicatory 
Poem, upon the Song of Solomon." It extends to 
nearly thirty pages in the folio edition of his works. 
His principal object in this poem seems to have been, 
to furnish plain Christians with an evangelical and 
pleasant exposition of that mystical Song. In the pre- 
face addressed " to the curious, and the serious readers," 
he states, accordingly, that he did not venture to make 
the paraphrase on any one verse, " till he had con- 
sulted a number of sound interpreters, and satisfied 
himself that he should not deviate from the current of 
orthodox writers." His diary contains several allu- 
sions to this production, of which a single specimen 
may suffice: — " Nov. 24, 1734. Many of these days 
I was occupied much in writing the paraphrase upon 
the Song. Lord, bless the work for tfie benefit of 
souls." 

Before sending his Paraphrase to the press, he sub- 
mitted it to the inspection of Dr. Isaac Watts, who 
favoured him with some " remarks " and he expresses 
his regret that circumstances occurred to prevent the 
Doctor from undertaking "a more close and full re- 
view thereof."* Adverting to the poetical writings of 
that distinguished man, he thus owns his obligations 
to them : — " I have frequently, both here and elsewhere , 
essayed to imitate them by adopting some of their de- 
licious metaphors."-^ — This Explicatory Poem on the 
Song appears to have been first published about the 
year 1738. He speaks modestly of it as " a homely 
essay." Though of inferior merit to the Sonnets, it 



Works, Vol. ii. p. 664. 



f Ibid. 



506 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



obtained considerable favour among Christians, and 
has passed through a number of editions. In a letter 
formerly inserted, Mr. Whitefleld expresses gratitude 
to God for the assistance afforded him " in that com- 
position."* 

After an interval of several years, he proceeded to 
compose his Scripture Songs, which were not fully 
published till after his death. According to the ar- 
rangement adopted in his practical works, they consist 
of two books ; the one including " Old Testament 
Songs," in six parts, and the other " New Testament 
Songs," in three parts.f Of all these, the short Para- 
phrase on the Lamentations, which forms the fifth part 
under the first division, was the first given to the world, 
being published in the year 1750.t It is introduced 
by a Preface, in which he disclaims all pretensions " to 
a genius fitted to act the sublime Poet," and invites 
persons of piety and judgment to send him their ob- 
servations on his verses. In the preface to his Songs 
on Select Portions of the Book of Job, he speaks respect- 
fully of Sit Richard Blackmores Paraphrase on that 
book, and adds; 66 Though I have not followed him in 
every gloss of his upon some texts, yet I have taken 

* Page 318. 

f Works, Vol. ii. Pp. 697—776. 

J One of his note-books, containing the Paraphrase on the 
Lamentations, and a considerable proportion of the other Scrip- 
ture Songs, fairly written in short-hand characters, is in the 
writer's possession ; also another book, containing a great part 
of the Gospel Sonnets, similarly written. Another of his descen- 
dants is in possession of an original copy of the Sonnets, neatly 
transcribed for the press by Mr. E-rskine. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



507 



all the help and assistance I could in framing many of 
the songs into common metre."* To the " New Ver- 
sion of the Song of Solomon," an advertisement is pre- 
fixed, in which he states, that after his Paraphrase on 
that book, he had no design of publishing any thing 
else upon it, but " was urged likewise to make a short 
version of this Song, as near as possible to the text." 
Alluding to Mr. Masons Version of it in favourable 
terms, he acknowledges that, on several verses, he had 
fi< taken what help it, together with Mr. Mason's Para- 
phrase and his own, could afford."f It fell to the 
share of the Rev. Henry Erskine of Falkirk, to trans- 
cribe a number of the Scripture Songs for the press, 
from his father's short-hand characters, after his de- 
cease. Had his life been spared a little longer, he was 
expected, it appears, to add several more poems on a 
variety of interesting passages. J 

It is unnecessary to notice particularly his Defence 
of Rhyme and musical metre, [| or to advert more mi- 
nutely to the contents of the prefatory addresses pre- 
fixed to his various poems. 

No one can justly refuse to Ralph Erskine the praise 
of laudable motives, or of pious industry, in writing 
this ample collection of Scripture songs ; nor should 
we overlook the liberality of his views in reference to 
the propriety of providing an enlarged psalmody for 
the use of the church.^ If the merits of the execution 
proved unequal to the excellence of the design, the 

* Works, Vol. ii. p. 709. f Ibid. p. 737. 

% Ibid. p. 700. || Ibid. Pp. 575, 576. 

See the sentences prefixed to the New Testament Songs, 
Ibid. p. 761. 



508 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



failure does admit of an apology. The urgency of his 
brethren of the Associate Synod, who earnestly and 
repeated^ recommended it to him to attempt this work, 
determined him to proceed, while his other numerous 
and important labours scarcely admitted the necessary 
leisure.* At the very commencement of the under- 
taking, also, to adopt his own expression, " Satan hin- 
dered him ;" for the unhappy controversy which then 
arose in the Synod, required much of his attention, 
and made large demands on his pen.f How rare 
and difficult is it, in fine, even for a poet endowed with 
the highest talent, and enjoying every advantage of 
leisure, to compose Scripture songs, " worthy of the glo- 
riously divine originals !" A late writer, after frankly 
admitting the obvious deficiencies of Mr. Erskine's 
Scripture Songs, concludes with the remark : " Nor 

* We give the following extract from the Records of the As- 
sociate Synod in manuscript, p. 1007- " Stirling, April 14, 
1748. The Synod recommended it to the Rev. Mr. Ralph 
Erskine to have under his consideration a translation of the 
Songs in Scripture into metre, except the Psalms of David, 
which are already translated, agreeable to the recommendation 
of the General Assembly, met at Edinburgh, Aug. 28th, 1647, 
Sess. 25.'* Subsequent notices relative to the progress of this 
design occur in the same folio manuscript, Pp. 1044, 1058, 1071, 
1125, 1141. From the following minute, however, p. 1147, 
being the last we have observed on the subject, it appears that, 
after Mr. Erskine's decease, the affair was dropped. " Shuttle 
Street Church of Glasgow, May 2nd, 1753. In regard the Com- 
mittee, appointed to revise the Scripture Songs translated into 
metre by the Rev. Mr. Ralph Erskine, had not met before his 
death, the Synod did not judge it proper to continue the said 
Committee." 

t Works, Vol. ii. p. 699. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



509 



are these attempts, after all, beneath several of the 
same kind by the greatest names in English poetry."* 

It is perhaps hardly worth while to allude expressly 
to a certain charge, which, in no measured terms, has 
been preferred against him by the writer of a late paper 
in a periodical publication. f In a previous commu- 
nication, relative to the Paraphrases sanctioned by the 
General Assembly,;}: another correspondent had pro- 
bably ascribed too much to Mr. Erskine. Not satis- 
fied with saying, " I was astonished and highly pleased 
with the poetical richness and sweetness which pervade 
the sonnets and paraphrases of this good man," he 
adds, " I soon perceived that some of the most vivid 
and ardent lines in several of our Paraphrases were 
borrowed from his pious effusions ;" and then exhibits 
a few specimens. This lofty assumption appears to 
have awakened the filial indignation of the church-man 
who made the reply ; and who keenly repels the idea, 
that the Psalmody of the Church of Scotland should 
be " under deep obligations to one of the fathers of 
the Secession." Now, we readily concede, that, if the 
dates this write?' assigns to the first publication of the 
Assembly s paraphrases be correct ; and if further, it be 
quite certain that Mr. Erskine had, at no time, made 
any contributions towards the materials ivhich, for a 
very long series of years, had been under the consider- 
ation of the Assembly s Committee on Psalmody, he 

* Chalmers' Lives of Distinguished Scotsmen, Art. Ralph 
Erskine, p. 271. 

-f- Edinburgh Christian Instructor for March 1832. " The 
Claims of R. Erskine on the Paraphrases examined." 
t Ibid. No. for March 1830, Pp. 538—541. 



! 

i 



510 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



has thoroughly wiped away the foul aspersion cast on 
his church by one of his more candid brethren, who, 
in an unguarded moment, had represented her as deep- 
ly indebted to a Seceder. But why did this gentleman 
allow himself, on that account, to pour forth a torrent 
of abuse on the memory of a confessedly " pious man," 
who is not himself responsible for the unfounded com- 
pliments that others may choose to pay him ? In spite 
of the hard words which this anonymous accuser em- 
ploys, and the boasted array of proofs he eagerly pre- 
sents, the integrity of that good man remains unques- 
tionable. Very possibly, he may not, in every in- 
stance, have minutely recollected, or expressly acknow- 
ledged, his literary obligations. But can any impartial 
judge reflect on the singular modesty of his pretensions 
with respect to poetical genius and attainments, or on 
his various acknowledgments to Watts, Blackmore, and 
Mason, referred to above, and yet imagine that he was 
ambitious to shine in borrowed plumes, or inclined to 
withhold the avowal of any obligation, of which he was 
conscious? He spontaneously proclaims, we have 
seen, his willingness in preparing his Scripture songs, 
to receive assistance from every quarter ; and though, 
" in his Preface to Job's Hymns, he never hints that 
he is under any obligation to Watts," yet in the Pre- 
face to his Paraphrase on the Song of Solomon, he 
does expressly state, as was mentioned above, that he 
had frequently, both in that production and elsewhere, 
essayed to imitate that valuable writer. Whatever, then, 
may be his deficiencies or faults, in other respects, as 
a sacred poet, he cannot justly be accused of deliberate 
theft or dishonesty. It were not difficult, very proba- 
bly, to show, that the principles of i( literary honesty" 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



51i 



have been, at least, as ill understood in more recent 
times as in the days of Ralph Erskine ; but it would 
afford us no pleasure to indulge in violent recrimina- 
tion or severe invectives. 

With regard to his Miscellaneous Poems, pub- 
lished in his Works, which include elegies on the. 
death of the Rev. Messrs. Cuthbert, Plenderleath, and 
Hamilton ; Scripture authorities for submission to Civil 
Magistrates ; and Smoking Spiritualized ; with epitaphs 
on the Rev. Messrs. Wilson of Perth, Boston of Ettrick, 
Ballantyne of Sanquhar, and others, most of them have 
already been referred to in the course of these memoirs. 
Suffice it only to notice, that another proof of his liter- 
ary uprightness, and of his unwillingness to obtain 
greater credit for originality than he was conscious of 
deserving, is furnished by the account he gives of one 
of those poems, which are described by a very compe- 
tent judge, as " most beautiful Latin odes/'* In a 
notice accompanying the Latin part of his elegy on 
Mr. Cuthbert, he avows explicitly that he had availed 
himself of the " appropriate expressions of several au- 
thors, which are here and there interspersed."-)- 

His elegies on the Rev. Messrs. Mair, Bathgate, 
Webster, and Moncrieff, which do not appear in his 
published works, were formerly noticed. J One of his 
note-books, penes ?ne, contains a number of similar pro- 

* See above, page 502. 

■f- Ne tanti viri nomen, fama, celebritas, et quibus pollebat 
dotes, oblivione deleantur, sequentis quoque Elogii centuriam 
linearum ( aptis quorundam authorum phrasibus hie illic inter - 
spersis) adjicere visum, Works, Vol. ii. p. 781. 

$ Chap. iii. Pp. 121, 132, 133, 146, 147. 



512 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



ductions, as, an elegy on the Earl of Bute, extending 
to forty-four lines ; one of thirty-two on a Mr. John 
Aedie, Convener in Dunfermline, who is described as 
a most faithful, benevolent, and useful man ; and one of 
fourteen stanzas on a promising youth, named Eben- 
ezer, w r ho seems to have died about 1720. It com- 
prises also a number of short epitaphs in addition to 
the published ones; as the following on Mary Stuart, 
to whom he wrote an instructive letter in 1724.* 

" This Mary chose the better part, 

Which death could not remove ; 
For glorious Christ did win her heart, 

And gospel truth her love. 

This faithful Steward's time, and tongue, 

And talents, all engaged 
To give instruction to the young, 

Example to the aged." 

" A congratulatory poem on King George's coro- 
nation'* was mentioned in a preceding part of this work.f 
He wrote also a poem, never published, entitled, " The 
Forced Marriage of Queen Scota," on occasion of the 
Union between Scotland and England. ;f His manu- 
scripts, indeed, comprehend a variety of poems, moral 
and entertaining, as well as religious. But the only 
one that now remains to be noticed here, bears the 
title of Reformation Light. It consists of brief en- 
comiums, each of four lines, on sixteen celebrated re- 
formers, namely Wickliffe, Huss, Jerome of Prague, 

* Page 72. 

■f Chap. iv. Pp. 149, 150, 155. 

t Acc. prefixed to "Works in 8vo. Vol. i. p. xv. note. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSfclNE. 



518 



Zuinglius, Luther, Oecolampadius, Bucer, Calvin, Me- 
lancthon, Peter Martyr, Knox, Flaccius, Bullenger, 
Zanchius, Beza, and Perkins. The two following may 
suffice for a specimen of the whole : 

" John Wickliffe, died 1387 ; was dug up and 
burnt 1428. 

Wickliffe on England gospel light conferred ; 
Rage burnt his bones, when forty years interred : 
Edward the Third, the approaching light befriends, 
And lops the Popish bishops' purse and tiends." 

" John Knox, born at Gifford, of Scotland, 1505 : 
died in the sixty-seventh year of his age. 

Scotland's apostle, Knox, from Frankfort tossed 
Back to Geneva, thence doth homewards post ; 
Makes Reformation light to grace the stage, 
In spite of Popish rancour and Prelatic rage." 



514 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



CHAPTER XH. 

Notices of Mr. Er shine's descendants — Children of the first fa- 
mily — Henry, minister of Falkirk— John of Leslie — Ebenezer, 
a student in divinity— James of Stirling — Daughters — Mar- 
garet — Second family — Robert, a merchant and engineer, who 
died in America- — Concluding remarks. 

It would be wrong to trespass on the patience of the 
reader, by giving him as ample intelligence respecting 
Mr. Erskine's posterity as it is possible to furnish ; but 
the following summary of whatever is most interest- 
ing in their history, it is presumed, will not be unac- 
ceptable. 

His family, by the first partner of his cares and joys, 
consisted of four sons and six daughters. The sons 
were named Henry, John, Ebenezer, James. 

The birth and baptism of Henry, the eldest of these, is 
thus recorded in the parish register of Dunfermline, ac- 
cording to a mode of registration then customary, and ob- 
served in reference to the other children of this family : 
— " Mr, Ralph Erskine, minister of the gospel at Dun- 
fermline, had a man-child, born to him of his wife Mar- 
garet Dewar, upon the 29th day of November 1720, 
and baptized the 9th day of December, called Henry. 
Witnesses, James Dewar of Lassodie, and Adam Rol- 
land of Gask." The evidence this Henry gave of early 
piety has been noticed in a former chapter.* His clas- 



* Page 442. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKIXE. 



515 



sical and philosophical studies were prosecuted at the 
University of Edinburgh, to which he went, apparently 
for the first time, in November 1736.* He was a 
member, we find, of a literary society of students, to 
whom he read an essay on the existence of God, in 
February 1738. After studying theology during the 
period then prescribed, under the Rev. William Wil- 
son of Perth, the first professor of divinity in the Seces- 
sion church, the Associate Presbytery met at Stirling, 
Dec. 14. 1742,f licensed him " to preach the ever- 
lasting gospel of Christ as a probationer for the holy 
ministry." Having received a unanimous call from 
the Associate congregation of Falkirk, he was ordain- 
ed there, March 13, 1744. J Mr. Fisher preached the 
ordination sermon from i Cor. iy. 1, 2. The Sabbath 
following, Henry delivered his first discourse to his 
people from 2 Cor. ii. 16, " Who is sufficient for these 
things ?" and his uncle Ebenezer preached an encour- 
aging sermon in the afternoon from 2 Tim. ii. 1, 
68 Thou, therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that 
is in Christ Jesus." On the 10th April 1745, he was 
united with Agnes Kay, daughter to Mr. Andrew 
Kay, ship-master, Kirkcaldy, and Magdalene Fleming, 
daughter of Sir James Fleming of Rathobyres. As a 
preacher, his elocution was somewhat injured by a na- 
tural diffidence ; but his discourses were esteemed ju- 
dicious and interesting, and he ingratiated himself with 
his people, by his uniform attention to the public and 
private duties of his office. Benevolence, prudence, 

* Page 443. 

•f Records of Assoc* Presbytery. 
X Ibid. 



516 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



modesty, gentleness, frankness in confessing a fault, 
and genuine politeness, adorned his demeanor. His 
services as a member of church- courts, were held in 
great repute. The good sense, impartiality, and can- 
dour, which characterised his remarks on the various 
causes, lent much weight to his opinion. He officiated 
for some time as clerk ; and also held for several years 
the situation of treasurer to the Associate Synod. It 
devolved on him, as Moderator, to preach at the open- 
ing of the Synod at Stirling, May 2, 1749. During 
the rebellion 1745 — 6, when the Highland army oc- 
cupied the town of Falkirk, he never flinched from 
any part of his public duty, but prayed explicitly for 
King George II., and the preservation of the Pro- 
testant succession, in the presence of officers to 
whom such prayers must have been highly offensive. 
Yet his character commanded the respect of those 
men, and he incurred no serious hardship by his fide- 
lity. In the year 1751, the magistrates and council of 
Glasgow honoured him with the freedom of their city.* 
Owing to exposure while freely perspiring from the 
labours of the pulpit, he was seized with a dangerous 
cold. The complaint baffled every means of cure, and 
for two years his health and vigour gradually declined, 
till he departed this life July 29, 1754, in the 34th 
year of his age. During his decay, he often preached 
rom texts relating to death and immortality, as Rom. 
v. 21. — 2 Cor. iv. 18 ; v. 1. — Exod. xv. 13. He discov- 
ered deep abasement, mingled with a lively hope. 
u The prayer of the publican," said he, " must be my 

* His burgess ticket still exists, being in the hands of his 
grand-daughter, Mrs. Robert Simpson, Edinburgh. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



517 



prayer ; f God be merciful to me a sinner.' " When 
his brother James at one time made this pious remark, 
" We all need to settle our accounts with God be- 
times/' Henry replied ; ' ; I know no way, dear brother, 
of settling my accounts, but by receiving a free pardon 
from my Redeemer." Mr. Robert S?nith, one of his 
elders, being employed to pray with him immediately 
before his exit, asked him what blessing he should re- 
quest; and his answer was, (< Pray that an abundant 
entrance may be administered to me into the everlast- 
ing kingdom. " — We have seen the strong affection he 
showed for his parents, and his sorrow at his father's 
death.* Both before and after that event, he trans- 
cribed some of his father's short-hand manuscripts for 
the press ; but he published nothing of his own com- 
posing ; and, prior to his decease, gave express orders, 
which have been strictly obeyed, that none of his dis- 
courses should be printed. 

His relict, after the loss of her beloved husband, 
spent four years in Falkirk, and then removed to Ed- 
inburgh, where she died at her house, Alison's Square. 
Nov. 13, 1798, aged seventy-eight. She had a family 
of two sons, and four daughters. Her son Ralph was 
born July 19, 1749. After learning the first principles 
of literature at Falkirk, and at the High School of 
Edinburgh, he chose the mercantile line, which he fol- 
lowed for a series of years in Glasgow, where he died 
in July, ]782. Ebenezer, her second son, born Nov. 
5, 1750, made choice of the same occupation with 
his brother; but in 1777 he emigrated from Glasgow 
to America, where, for several years, he resided with 



Pages 380—382. 



518 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



his uncle Robert Erskine, at JRingwood, and subse- 
quently with Colonel Hooper, near Trenton, New Jer- 
sey. In the year 1784, he made a visit to his relatives 
in Scotland ; but, returning to America, he died at the 
close of the voyage, towards the end of 1785. Neither 
of these two sons entered the married state. 

Magdalene, the eldest of Henry's family, was born, 
July 23, 1746, and baptized, as were all the rest, with 
the exception of the youngest, by her grandfather of 
Dunfermline. On the 27th of February 1770, she 
gave her hand to the Rev. John Fraser, A.M., Auch- 
termuchty, to whom she proved, in all respects, an ex- 
cellent partner. After having become the mother of 
six sons and six daughters, she died April 9, 1792, 
deeply regretted by her relatives and acquaintance. 
Her husband remained a widower till his death, which 
occurred on Friday, Dec. 18, 1818, in the 74th year 
of his age, and 51st of his ministry. A small volume 
of Sermons and Essays by Mr. Fraser, with a Memoir 
of him prefixed, was published in the year 1820. Hav- 
ing learned the elements of literature at the Grammar 
School of Inverness, he obtained a regular education 
for the ministry at King's College, Aberdeen. Sin- 
cerely pious from his youth, and cordially attached to 
those evangelical tenets, which he had been taught by 
the Divine Spirit under the ministry of valued pas- 
tors of the Church of Scotland in the north, as 
Messrs. Alexander Fraser and Murdoch M k Ken- 
zie, Inverness ; Donald Fraser, Kirkhill, grand- 
father of the present minister of that parish, and 
Hector Macphail of Kirkmichael and Cullicudden, 
where for a twelvemonth he held the office of parish 
teacher, — he was equally surprised and vexed, when he 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



519 



found a contrary scheme of doctrine generally pre- 
valent among the clergy and students of Aberdeen. 
After mature deliberation, he determined, in conse- 
quence, though at the expense of disappointing relatives, 
hazarding early friendships, and sacrificing the fairest 
prospects of worldly comfort, to abandon the establish- 
ment and join the Secession. Having completed his 
theological curriculum under the Rev. John Swanston 
of Kinross, he received license from the Associate Pres- 
bytery of Perth and Dunfermline, and on the 7th July 
1768, was ordained, by the same Presbytery, to the 
charge of the first Associate Congregation of Auchter- 
muchty, who had unanimously called him. 

In spite of the impulse of filial piety, we must for- 
bear introducing here any full delineation or defence of 
this conscientious minister's character. Reason and 
justice, however, demand, that we should not wholly 
pass over the fact, that, though he had seldom taken a 
prominent share in ecclesiastical business, he gave a 
memorable display at once of decision, integrity, and 
candour, when, on the 12th of May 1795, he spontane- 
ously laid before the Associate Synod; a representation 
and petition relating to their Formula; which led to im- 
portant and well-known results. Notwithstanding some 
unpleasant occurrences, of which his petition proved 
the innocent occasion, he retained to the last moment 
of his life a firm persuasion that, in presenting it, he 
had discharged an important duty to God and the 
church. Let it only be noticed further, that while he 
urged the propriety and necessity of avowed mutual 
forbearance with respect to some subordinate matters, 
regarding which, he was aware, a difference of senti- 
ment really existed, he was himself personally attached to 



520 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



the original views of Seceders on the points in question. 
In particular, so far as we know, he never cherished 
or declared hostility to the principle of a civil esta- 
blishment of Christianity. He left the church of Scot- 
land in youth, not because it was a national church, 
but because, in his apprehension, many of its ministers 
had apostatized from its acknowledged doctrines and 
discipline. Xor, in advanced years, was it any change 
of his judgment on this head that induced him to re- 
quest the Synod to which he belonged, to accomplish 
what he deemed a necessary reform. The following 
sentence of the speech he addressed to the moderator 
at the time of laying his representation and petition on 
the table, though introduced by him, indeed, to illus- 
trate a different topic, is sufficient of itself to establish 
this assertion. " It is the profession of this Synod," 
says he, " not to have separated from the revolution 
church, and to be willing to return to the communion 
of the established church, whenever she shall become 
as pure as she was about a hundred years ago."* To 
examine the correctness of the ideas on this contested 
point entertained by the author oi that representation, 
does not fall within the compass of our present design, 
nor do we at all wish to attach undue weight to his 
authority; but the precipitant strictures of unguard- 
ed criticism have created the necessity of explicitly 
stating the fact, as to what views he did entertain. f 

* Sermons and Essays by John Eraser, A.M., late minister 
of the Gospel in Auchtermuchty, to which is prefixed a Memoir 
of the Author, p. xxix. See also p. xii. 

•f Theological Magazine for 1832 ; p. 25, Review of Life and 
Diary of Ebenezer Erskine. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



521 



Of the twelve children of Mr. and Mrs. Fraser, three 
died in infancy, Ralph, Ebenezer, and John. Other 
two have been removed since in mature age, Lydia, 
their fourth daughter, March 10, 1808 ; and Henry 
Dewar, M. D. of Lassoddie, their eldest son, who ex- 
pired on the 19th Jan. 1823, leaving a family of three 
sons and two daughters, of whom the youngest, Donald 
William, died, and was buried at Paris, in summer, 
1831. It may be proper to add, that, while Mr. 
Fraser's two surviving sons, are ministers of the Unit- 
ed Secession Church, two of his grand-children have 
also been invested with the same office, the Rev. John 
Skinner of Partick, near Glasgow ; and the Rev. John 
Henry Gardner, son to the late Rev. James Gardner, 
Newtonards, Ireland, and Magdalene Fraser, who was 
ordained at Whithorn, July 13, 1831, and after afford- 
ing proof of decided piety and hopeful talent, died 
there, much regretted, April 10, 1833, in the 26th year 
of his age, and 2nd of his ministry. 

Agnes, Henry Erskine's second daughter, was born, 
Jan. 8, 1748, and died at Edinburgh, Sep. 16, 1818. 
She distinguished herself through life, as well by the 
ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, and the cheerful 
discharge of every relative duty, as by a conscientious 
regard to the ordinances of religion. 

Her sisters, Margaret and Isabella, were both 
taken away in childhood, as appears from the following 
Epitaph, engraven on a sepulchral stone, kindly renewed 
in the church-yard of Falkirk, by some members of the 
United Associate Congregation there, at the time when 
that people were called in providence to perform the 
last offices of respect to the Rev. John Belfrage, the 
worthy successor of Mr. Erskine : — 



522 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



" Beneath this Stone are interred the Remains of 
the Rev. Henry Erskine, who was minister of the 
gospel in the Associate Congregation of Falkirk, for 
the space of ten years. He died, July 29, 1754, aged 
33 years ; a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, 
sober, just, holy, temperate. In this place also, the 
bodies of two of his children were buried, Margaret 
and Isabel Erskines. 

This stone was erected by his relict, and was renew- 
ed in the year 1801, by some members of the Congre- 
gation, in testimony of their veneration for Mr. Er- 
skine's memory." 

John, Mr. Ralph Erskine's second son, was born 
Aug. 2, 1722, and named from his maternal grand- 
father. The religious impressions he discovered in 
youth were highly pleasing to his father.* His elder 
brother and he, notwithstanding the difference in age, 
seem to have attended the University together, during 
the same sessions, and then to have jointly pursued 
their studies in theology. They were licensed by the 
Associate Presbytery at the same moment, and both 
were addressed by Mr. Moncrieff of Abernethy, in the 
name of the court.f John's ordination, also, took 
place only two months and a half posterior to Henry's ; 
for he was set apart to the ministry at Leslie, Fife- 
shire, May 30, 1744, the Rev. George Brown of Perth, 
presiding on the occasion. He was reckoned a devout 
and evangelical preacher. It is unnecessary to advert 

* Page 442. 

■f RecordvS of the Assoc. Presb. at their meeting at Stirling, 
Dec. 22, 23, 24, 1742. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



523 



again to the line of conduct he adopted, at the time of 
the mournful breach, 1747.* The mortal career as- 
signed him, in adorable providence, was short. The 
particular day, and other circumstances of his dissolu- 
tion, we have not ascertained. We find, however, that 
the last minute of his session, written during his in- 
cumbency, is dated Jan. 27, 1751 ; and that, in a let- 
ter to Mr. Newlands, of date June 5, 1751, his father 
alludes to his death as one of several trying bereave- 
ments he had suffered. John was never married. 

Ebenezer, Ralph's third son, entered life, Sept. 6, 
1726. He first chose the occupation of a Printer ; but 
conscientious motives impelled him to relinquish it. 
One of his manuscripts contains the following memor- 
andum ; « On Wednesday the 24th of Oct., 1744, 1 left 
Mr. Ruddiman's printing-house ; on the 2d Nov. 1745, 
my apprenticeship should have been done." Elsewhere 
too, he plainly states his ground for changing his em- 
ployment : — " The reason of my leaving my business 
was, that I could not make it my trade and business, 
without infallibly being exposed to such snares, and 
being obliged to be employed in such work, as, in its 
own nature, could have no other tendency than to 
spread error and be the occasion of sin. These scrip- 
tures, " Abstain from all appearance of evil," (which 
includes all the occasions of sin,) " Be not a partaker 
of other men's sins," — induced me to think of leaving 
it, and taking up with whatever providence should cast 
in my way." Having probably attended the college 
before becoming apprentice to Mr. Ruddiman, he com- 
menced the study of philosophy or theology, with a 



* See pages 363-366. 



524 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



view to the sacred ministry, as we learn from his me- 
moranda, almost immediately after his leaving the 
printing-office. Judging from the remains of his ma- 
nuscripts, he displayed industry, caution, and tender- 
ness of conscience. It pleased God, however, to re- 
move him to the world of spirits, before he had com- 
pleted the term of study. According to a memoran- 
dum of his brother James, he died Jan. 3d, 1747. 

James, the fourth son, and tenth child of Margaret 
Dewar, first saw the light, Sep. 19, 1730, two months 
and three days before his mother's death. In com- 
mon with his brothers, he received the rudiments of 
learning at the grammar school of his native town. 
His academical education was begun at Edinburgh, 
but finished at the University of Glasgow. In early 
youth he was exceedingly merry and volatile ; but in 
the second year of his attendance at college, became 
remarkably grave* The violin, however, for which, 
as a harmless means of recreation, he formed an at- 
tachment when a boy, he never entirely threw aside. 
Along with other young men, he appears to have 
spent a great portion of the year 1745 at Abernethy, 
receiving instruction from Mr. David Wilson, a teacher 
of philosophy, appointed by the Associate Presbytery. 
His theological studies, begun possibly with Mr. Mon- 
crieff, were prosecuted at Stirling under the tuition of 
his uncle Ebenezer, and completed at Glasgow under 
Mr. Fisher. Nor should it be forgotten that both he 
and his elder brothers, were favoured with great ad- 
vantages in the advice and superintendence of their 
own father. Having been licensed by the Associate 
Presbytery of Dunfermline towards the close of 1750, 
his ministrations as a probationer were universally po- 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



525 



pular. It was formerly mentioned, that he received 
calls to Dundee, Stirling and Dunfermline ; and that, 
by the appointment of Synod, he was ordained at 
Stirling in January, 1752.* On a board of one of 
his note-books, we have found the following memor- 
andum : — " A Scripture that was sweet to me, in the 
view of my settlement in Stirling. Acts xviii. 9, 10. 
6 The Lord said unto Paul, Be not afraid, but speak, 
and hold not thy peace ; for I am with thee, and no 
man shall set on thee to hurt thee, for I have much 
people in this city. He approved himself a dutiful 
colleague to his venerable uncle, and a faithful pastor 
to that large congregation. Mrs. Henry Erskine of 
Falkirk, in a letter to a cousin written shortly after she 
had attended the Lord's Supper at Stirling, in May, 
1756, expressed herself thus : — " The action sermon 
was from John x. 9. 4 1 am the door.' — I think the 
Lord is making the spirit of Elijah to rest on the 
young Elisha." His ministry was thought to be emi- 
nently successful in gathering souls to Christ, and 
confirming the faith of believers. In consequence of 
a synodical appointment, he preached eight Sabbaths 
at the beginning of summer, 1752, to the newly formed 
Associate Congregation in London ; and, in the course 
of his journey to or from that city, he did himself the 
pleasure, it appears, to call for the celebrated Mr. 
Hervey.f 

On the 18th of December, 1753, he married Jean, 
daughter to Mr. Fisher of Glasgow, who became the 

* Pages 373—377. 

f Brown's Memoirs of the Rev. James Hervey, p. 156. 



526 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



mother of four children. He had the unhappiness, 
however, to lose three of them by death, namely, Jean, 
Ebenezer, and James ; on whose afflictions and decease 
he makes interesting observations, in a short account 
of them recorded in a note-book. His last entry in 
this domestic register is as follows : — 

" The Lord's rod at this time has been very heavy 
on my poor family. Yesterday, betwixt twelve and one 
p. m., being Saturday, Nov. 15, 1760, my dear, dear, 
sweet child, Jamie, was cut off by the small- pox, the 
ninth day of the trouble. If he had lived till the 1st 
of March, he would have been three years of age. 
My heart and affection were much glued to this 
child. There could not be a more pleasant one. 
The Lord has dried up this sweet stream. O that 
he may now lead my dear wife and me up to him- 
self, the inexhaustible fountain. O for right views 
of God in Christ. Alas ! I have not yet win to 
part with Jamie in my heart and affection. The 
Lord keep me from sinning. — This day, when nry son 
was lying a corpse, I preached, afternoon, on Prov. 
m. 12." 

The sudden death of this dear child, in fact, had 
a fatal effect on his own constitution. His health 
immediately declined ; he never recovered from the 
shock ; and, to the inexpressible grief of his relatives 
and congregation, he expired on the 9th March, 1761, 
in the 31st year of his age, and 10th of his ministry. 
Several letters which, during his illness, he wrote to 
his father-in-law, Mr. Fisher, discover great solicitude 
respecting the spiritual interests of his flock, and a sin- 
cere desire to reap the fruits of righteousness from the 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



527 



chastening rod. Soon after his decease, the following 
description of his character appeared in the public 
newspapers : — 

" On Thursday the 9th March, died of a short ill- 
ness, the Rev. James Erskine, minister of the gos- 
pel at Stirling. The happy talent God had given 
him to display the mystery of grace, he employed 
with unwearied diligence in promoting the interests 
of pure and undefiled religion among his numerous 
congregation. The humility, openness, and affability 
of his temper, the prudence, zeal, and integrity, with 
which he filled up every relation and capacity of life, 
had acquired him the unfeigned affection and esteem, 
not only of those under his inspection, but of all 
who had the happiness of his acquaintance, and make 
his death universally lamented, as a severe and afflict- 
ing loss to his family, congregation, and the church of 
God." 

His discourses were prepared with much judgment 
and accuracy ; but, like his brother Henry, he ex- 
pressed an extreme aversion to authorship, and none 
of his writings were ever given to the world. His 
disconsolate widow did not long survive him. She 
died at Glasgow, May 2, 1762. Ralph, their only 
surviving child, chose the sea-faring life ; and, having 
sailed from Greenock in December, 1767, w r as under- 
stood to have, soon after, perished at sea. 

The first Mrs. Erskine of Dunfermline, bare four 
daughters before she had any son ; namely, Eliza- 
beth, Jean, Margaret, Helen ; and subsequently two 
more — Rachel and Christian, Elizabeth, the eldest, 
was born on the 17th May, 1715 ; and her baptism on 



528 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



the 24th of that month, is attested in the parish re- 
gister by the Rev. Ebenezer Erskine, Sir Peter Hal- 
ket of Pitfirran, and John Dewar of Lassodie. — Only 
one of these six daughters, however, reached the years 
of discretion. Christian died at her birth, and other 
four in infancy, as appears from a Latin inscription 
on a stone which yet remains among the sepulchral 
monuments of Dunfermline, erected by Mr. Erskine 
in memory of his sister Margaret, and his deceased 
children,* 

Margaret, his only surviving daughter, was born 
April 7, 1718. She much endeared herself, as we 
have seen, to her father, by her tenderness and care ; 
and was also enabled to exhibit hopeful indications 
of an early attention to the concerns of the soul.f 
She was united, probably in the year 1745, with Mr. 
John Newlands of Glasgow, the Editor of her father's 
works. It pleased divine providence, however, to re- 
move her from this transitory life in summer 1751, 
about six years after her marriage. A short time 
before her departure, she received from her father the 
following letter of paternal sympathy and counsel : — 

Letter* — Rev. Ralph Erskine, " To Mrs. Newla?ids, 
Spouse to Mr. John Newlands, Merchant, Glasgow." 

" Dunfermline, June 5, 1751. 

" Dear Peggy, 

When I last saw you, I saw so 
much of death and distress in your countenance, that 
as it afflicted me, so it made me suspect whether I 



* See Appendix, No xiii. -f- Page 443, 444. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



529 



should ever see you again in time : and therefore I de- 
sired you might lay your account with the worst that 
could happen, and recommended to your close medita- 
tion, Psalm cxxx. and some other Scriptures, both for 
a direction in prayer, and a foundation of hope. Your 
own utter inability to believe, or act, or think, which 
you spake of, should be a motive for you to despair 
quite of help in yourself, and to place your hope only 
upon God in Christ, expecting to be justified only by 
his merit, blood, and righteousness, in order to your 
being entitled to heaven, and to be sanctified only by 
his Spirit, in order to your being made meet for it. This 
is the way to have a well-grounded hope of being for 
ever with the Lord. And in this hope of the remission 
of all your sins in the blood of Jesus Christ and of 
eternal life by him, Dear Peggy, endeavour to bid a 
hearty farewell to this vain, vanishing world, to wel- 
come death itself, which is the end of all men, and to 
be reconciled to it as the irreversible decree of God. 
Seek of him a kindly submission to his sovereign will 
herein. However sorry I am to part with you so soon, 
I desire to be still, and know that he is God. I know 
not how soon my own departure may be at hand. 
Meantime, it has pleased him to bereave me ; Ebie is 
not ; Johnny is not ; and if now he be calling for you 
also, even He whose right it is to give and to take as 
he pleases, O may he loose your heart wholly from 
this world, and all that is in it, and enable you to take 
a dead grip of Christ, into whose hands I commend 
your spirit, desiring to plead on your behalf his cove* 
nant toward me and ray seed, not for your sake or 
mine, but for his own name's sake. O let this name 



530 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



of the Lord be your strong tower, to which the right- 
eous run and are safe, in life and in death. I remain, 
Dear Peggy, 

Your affectionate and sympathizing Father, 

Ralph Erskine," 

Soon after the death of Mrs. Newlands, Mr. Erskine 
addressed a letter of condolence to the bereaved hus- 
band. In this communication, bearing date July 6, 
1751, he expresses the pleasure he derived from the ac- 
count Mr. Newlands had given him of the passages of 
Scripture which had proved consolatory to the de- 
ceased in the prospect of her departure, alludes to the 
good hopes he entertained regarding her, and admi- 
nisters salutary counsel : 

u God has ordered," says he, " in infinite 

wisdom, that I should lose my daughter, and you your 
wife. But we must be still, and know that he is God. I 
could not but see that you are a grieved and disconsolate 

widower, and so I find still your line bears. 

Meantime I reckon myself very much concerned in the 
motherless children which you have, especially by my 
daughter, The good counsel, you tell me, she gave 
your children when she was dying, will, I doubt not, 
be a melting argument to you, to take all the parental 
care you can of those that are properly her's as well 
as your's, and that are remotely so much mine, that I 
hope, while I live, to be mindful of them, and to do them 
what service providence may call me to. May you 
and all your children be blessed of God ; and may he 
be an up-making God to you, to fill to advantage the 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



531 



room he has emptied, and to bless and sanctify the 
loss to you and your family. I rest, 

Your affectionate Father and humble Servant, 

Ralph Erskine." 

.Mr. Xewlands, it appears from these lines, had 
children of a former marriage. Of his family by Mr. 
Erskine's daughter, we know of one only that attained 
mature years, namely, Margaret, who gave her hand 
to Mr. James Lockart, Merchant, Glasgow ; and whose 
only child, also named Margaret, is the partner of 
James Jaffray, M. D. Professor of Anatomy in the 
University of Glasgow. 

The family of Margaret Simson, the second Mrs. 
Erskine, consisted of four sons — Mr. Erskine's child- 
ren thus amounting, in all, to fourteen. Three of 
these four sons, however, as has been stated in a fore- 
going passage of this narrative, died in infancy.*' 
Ralph, the eldest, born Dec* 5, 1732, was cut off by 
small-pox, at the age of a year and nine months ; 
Daniel, the second, shared the same fate when only 
nine months old ; and another Ralph, the youngest 
of the family, died April 10, 1738, a babe of two months 
and fourteen days. The bereaved father, having thus, 
including the five deceased babes of his first wife, lost 
eight children in infancy, knew well from experience 
how to appreciate the consolations arising from God's 
covenant, as extending to the little ones committed to 
his hands ; and no doubt often recollected these pleasant 
lines of his own composing : 

* Pages 444-450. 



* 



532 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



" In heavenly choirs a question rose 
That stirr'd up strife will never close, 
What rank of all the ransomM race 
Owes highest praise to sov'reign grace ? 

Babes thither caught from womb and breast, 
Claim'd right to sing above the rest ; 
Because they found the happy shore, 
They never saw nor sought before. '** 

Robert, the only member of the second family that 
reached maturity, was born Aug. 27, (i. e, Sep. 7, N.S.f ) 
1735, and lived to the age of forty- five. He seems, as 
well as his brothers, to have received a liberal educa- 
tion ; and though he did not copy their example in de- 
voting themselves to the sacred office, he proved an or- 
nament to the family. For some years he followed the 
mercantile line in London, where he was connected in 
business with a gentleman in Virginia ; but certain ad- 
vantageous proposals induced him to emigrate to Ameri- 
ca in spring 1771. Some time before his departure, 
he published an Essay, which did him credit, and which 
is the only publication we have heard of, attempted by 
any of Ralph Erskine's immediate sons. The Rev. 
Archibald Hall, in a letter to Mr. Fisher of Glasgow, 
dated London, July 1770, refers to Robert and his pro- 
duction, in the following terms : — 

* Gospel Sonnets, part vi. Ch. v. Sect. 1. The Work and Con- 
tention of Heaven. 

■f In noticing the dates of events recorded in Mr. Erskine's 
Diary, we have uniformly adhered to^is own numbers, which 
are, of course, in accordance with the old stile. 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



533 



?< Mr. Robert Erskine and Mrs. Erskine are very 
well. He has lately published an Essay upon the effect 
of bridges and abutments in rivers to cause shoals, de- 
dicated to the late Lord Mayor, William Beckford, 
Esquire, which is thought by good judges to be a very 
ingenious performance. The city of London has the 
improvement of the river Thames in contemplation just 
now. It is hoped this seasonable discovery of the 
author's fine genius will recommend him to some use- 
ful place in forming and executing their schemes to 
that effect."* 

He seems to have possessed a natural turn for the 
business of an engineer. Prior to his emigration to 
America, he spent some time, we are assured by a 
friend, at Carron, near Falkirk, where he " learned the 
art of casting cannon/' As appears from a Journal 
kept by his nephew Ebenezer Erskine, who resided 
several years with him at Ringwood, State of New Jer- 
sey, — his prosperity in the new r world fully equalled his 
expectations. When the war broke out betwixt Britain 
and her American colonies, he thought proper to take 
part with the latter ; and his services in the cause of 
liberty were highly valued. From the journal just al- 
luded to, we find that he received visits from General 
Clinton, Colonels Morris and Stewart, and other per- 
sons of consideration ; that during his last illness, phy- 
sicians were despatched from the camp to administer 
medical aid to him ; and that his funeral was most re- 
spectably attended. 

On the 18th of Sept. 1780, he caught a severe cold 
and sore throat, which produced fever, and within the 

* Christian Tvlonitor, Vol. v. p. 89. 



534 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



space of a fortnight terminated in his dissolution. " On 
the breast of the coffin," says his nephew, " is a very 
neat plate of Mr. de Witt's making, on which is the 
following inscription in gilt letters : 

< In memory of Robert Erskine, F.R.S. Geogra- 
pher and Surveyor General to the Army of the United 
States of America. Born Sept. 7th 1735. Died Octo- 
ber 2d 1780. Aged 45 years and 25 days/ " 

This gentleman had no child that survived him. His 
relict, Elizabeth Erskine, whom he had left his sole heir, 
was united some time after his death, probably in the 
year 1783, with Col. Robert Leltis Hooper of Belvill, 
Trenton, New Jersey. 

To these particulars of his history, it affords us great 
pleasure to add, that Robert Erskine, the youngest save 
one, and the last survivor of his father's fourteen chil- 
dren, to all appearance feared God from his youth, and 
continued to the end of life to cherish the faith, and 
manifest the influence of divine truth. In a very friend- 
ly letter to Mr. Fisher, under date, " London, June 10, 
1768/' he gives an affecting account of his bereavement 
in the loss of an exceedingly sweet child, almost two 
years old, who died of hooping-cough the 23d of April 
preceding, and subjoins most delightful expressions of 
Christian resignation and hope. At the close of an- 
other letter, addressed to his widowed sister-in-law, 
Mrs. Henry Erskine, Jan. 23, 1771, he concludes a 
short account of his prospects in America, for which he 
intended to sail a few weeks after, with the following 
words : " I hope we shall always recollect that here 
we are only passengers — that we may remember the 
better country, where many of our dear friends have 
gone before us." 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



535 



His nephew, who attended him on his death-bed, 
after detailing the particulars of the closing scene, 
sketches his character as follows : — " Thus died my 
uncle Robert Erskine. Through the whole of his life he 
strictly adhered to the principles of religion, honour, and 
justice; had a clear judgment, a most sympathizing 
heart for the distressed, whom he was ever ready to re- 
lieve to the utmost of his power. Upon his death- bed 
he began to reap the benefit of such a life, for when free 
of bodily pain, his mind was all calm and serene ; and 
he is now in the full enjoyment of bliss in the realms 
above. Poor Mrs. Erskine is in the greatest distress. 
Never, I believe, was a couple more firmly united by 
the most sincere esteem and tender affection for each 
other " 

The preamble to his Testament, in fine, while it ex- 
actly defines his occupation in America, contains a 
most evangelical and striking confession of his faith, 
well worthv of his descent and education, It runs 
in the following terms : 

" I Robert Erskine, son of the Rev. Ralph Ers- 
kine, author of the Gospel Sonnets, &c, by the provi- 
dence of God at present in America, for the purpose 
of directing, conducting, and taking charge of several 
iron-works, and other lands and property belonging to 
gentlemen in England, who style themselves the pro- 
prietors of the New York and New Jersey iron-works ; 
being now in good health of body, and sound in mind, 
make this my last will and testament, as follows : 

" When it shall please my gracious and merciful 
Father, God Almighty, to call me hence, after my days 
are completed, the number of which he knows, my 
body I commit to wherever his providence pleases to 



536 



LIFE AND DIARY OF 



deposit it ? till the resurrection of the just : and my soul 
flees now, and at the hour of death, I trust, will be 
enabled to flee, to the merits of my gracious and merci- 
ful Redeemer, our Lord Jesus Christ, for protection 
against the wrath of a justly offended God. He came 
to call sinners to repentance. Blessed be the name of the 
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, one God, that I ever 
heard the call, and that ever I felt myself inclined to 
obey it, through the influence of the Blessed Spirit. 
Oh ! may me and mine, and all that belong to me, hear 
and know the joyful sound ! Let the whole earth be 
filled with his glory ! Let my Mediator's kingdom ex- 
tend from sea to sea ! May he go forth, conquering 
and to conquer, poor, miserable sinners unto himself !" 



The reflexions interspersed, however sparingly, in 
the course of this biographical narrative, must be con- 
sidered as almost entirely superseding the necessity of 
a formal conclusion. Suffice it briefly to suggest, that 
it seems calculated to prove, by the blessing of God, in 
some degrer, beneficial to various classes. 

Ought not memoirs of Ralph Erskine to interest 
all his descendants, whether lineal or collateral? To 
indulge the spirit of those vain-glorious Jews, who 
made this their boast, " We have Abraham for our 
father," would be exceedingly unbecoming and delu- 
sive. Yet unquestionably they are bound by endearing 
obligations to cherish his memory, to copy his example, 
and to profit by his Diary and his various writings. 
A departure from the doctrines of the Christian sys- 
tem, or from the path of Christian holiness, would, in 
their case, be found peculiarly criminal. Let them de- 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



liberately weigh the fervent prayers he poured forth in 
behalf of his posterity in all succeeding times,* and 
then determine whether they will reciprocate his pious 
affection, and say from the heart, " May these prayers 
of my venerable ancestor, be answered to my happy 
experience ! May I follow him to those bright regions 
of purity and bliss, where I trust he occupies a place ! 
i The Lord is my God, I will prepare him an habita- 
tion ; my father's God, I will exalt him.' " 

May not the members of the numerous Associate 
Congregation, of which, under providence, he was the 
founder, as well as the pastor, be expected to fix their 
eyes on that distinguished pattern of piety and good- 
ness he was enabled to exhibit ? Though he has now 
been more than eighty years dead, he still speaks to 
them, not only by his published discourses and songs, 
but by his pious and holy life, of which authentic me- 
morials remain. Even now he seems to beckon to 
them from his celestial throne, 

" With raised hand, fit emblem of his heart," 

saying, "Be ye followers of me, as I also am of Christ." 
— Communities often continue to subsist for a succes- 
sion of ages, after the individuals of whom they were 
originally composed, have universally gone to their 
long home. Let the new generations that arise, whilst 
they prize and improve the ministry of the new pastors 
provided for them by the great Shepherd of the church, 
take good heed that they do not deprive themselves of 
the benefit they may yet reap from devout recollections of 

* Pages 452, 453. 



538 



LIFE AND DIARY OP 



an Erskine. a Smith. & Husband, a 31-FarIane. a Fisher. 
and other ministers of Christ, that have finished their 
course with joy. Remember, therefore, how thou hast 
received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. " u Be- 
hold," says the unchanging and immortal Redeemer. 
" I come quickly ; hold fast that which thou hast, that 
no man take thv crown." 

For the space of at least thirty years. 3Ir. Erskine 
was one of the acknowledged ministers of the whole 
parish of Dunfermline ; and it could in no respect in- 
jure the best interests of professed Christians of every 
persuasion, and of every congregation in that populous 
parish, were they all to concur in so remembering this 
man of God. whom their fathers united in esteeming, 
as to improve that Saviour whom he warmly recom- 
mended, and to cultivate those Christian graces which 
it was his habitual care to exemplify. 

Is it too much to hope that all the eh urches of the Reces- 
sion should be willing to receive instruction from the sub- 
ject of this memoir, and from the other founders of the as- 
sociate body ? The general and undisputed excellence 
of their character, as men and as ministers, added to the 
intrepid appearances they made in support of the in- 
jured truths of God, and the infringed liberties of his 
church, in a clay of trouble and rebuke, entitle their 
names to everlasting remembrance, and their example 
to perpetual regard. All that claim ecclesiastical re- 
lation to them as Fathers of the church to which they 
belong, ought to justify their pretensions, by resembling 
them in whatever was estimable in their temper and 
conduct. The members of the Secession Church of 
every rank and class, may learn much from these godly 
fathers, regarding the nature and importance of vital 



THE REV. RALPH ERSKINE. 



539 



Christianity, and the duties which they owe to God 
and man. Its ministers, in particular, may receive va- 
luable lessons from them relative to the spirit and man- 
ner in which they should discharge their ministry, and 
further the interests of the kingdom of Christ. Their 
zeal and activity were obviously pre-eminent ; and if, 
on some points, their sentiments cannot be recognized 
as perfectly correct, their views of the grand mysteries 
of the gospel were uncommonly scriptural and lumin- 
ous. Infallibility, indeed, is an attribute they neither 
claimed nor possessed ; and if their successors, after 
mature inquiry, shall discern in the system they be- 
queathed, either defects to be supplied, or excrescences 
to be lopped off, let no blind veneration for human 
names preclude the resolute performance of necessary 
duty. " To the law and to the testimony— One is your 
Master, even Christ — One is your Father, which is in 
heaven." Yet, if we proceed to discard some old 
tenets and usages, and to embrace new opinions and 
modes in religion, let us copy the caution, the deli- 
berate and solemn investigation, the brotherly con- 
ference, the deep humiliation, and earnest supplications, 
which marked the procedure of the first ministers of 
the Secession, when contemplating untried and bold 
measures, that circumstances appeared to require.* 
Nay, let us be admonished by all that was least happy 
and commendable in their temper and carriage. Who 
has not heard of the sharp contentions that arose 
among those worthy fathers themselves, as well as of 
the violent controversies agitated betwixt them and 
other excellent clergymen, who chose a different man- 



* Comp. pp. 236—242. 



540 



LIFE AND DIARY, &C* 



ner of testifying against abounding evils, and of ad- 
vancing the interests of true religion ?* Allowing that 
our views are wholly in accordance with scripture, 
and that the objects we aim at are great and good, it 
should never be forgotten, that 4 ' wisdom is profitable 
to direct," and that " the wrath of man worketh not 
the righteousness of God." " Speaking the truth in 
love, let us grow up in all things into him, who is the 
Head." 

Ralph Erskine, in a word, is a man who belongs to 
the church universal. His name has been widely 
spread, and his writings extensively perused. His dis- 
position was, on the whole, eminently catholic and 
generous. In his prayers and his efforts, he sought 
the prosperity of all the churches, and the welfare of 
the whole human race. May it not then be presumed, 
that Christians of every name, who have respected his 
character, and been edified by his writings, will profit 
by that more intimate acquaintance with him, to which 
his own Diary cannot fail to introduce them? Is there 
not reason to hope that, at least in all the more essen- 
tial points of doctrine and practice, they will be there- 
by stimulated more and more, to be " followers to- 
gether with" him, and with the whole company of 
those, " who through faith and patience, inherit the pro- 
mises ?" Grace be with all them that love our 
Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen. 



♦ Pages 347, 366, 367. 



APPENDIX. 



APPENDIX. 



No. I Page 23. 

Of two juvenile letters in Latin now before us, addressed by 
Ralph Erskine to a school-fellow, let it suffice to produce the 
shortest. It relates merely to the time of taking his journey 
from Chirnside to Edinburgh to attend the University, respect- 
ing which he had promised to give him information. 

u Cum proxime abs te recederem, statui te certiorem facere, 
quando mihi in animo esset Edinburgum proficisci, De et nam 
foedifragus, et a te fidem non servasse dicar. Design avi (Deo 
dante) octavo idibus Novembris ad iter instructum esse, Gymna- 
siumque adire. Nihil igitur opus est reliqua scribam, modo 
Patrem, Matrem, Sororesque tuas verbis nostris salutes ; ut ne 
addam, dicas, quseso, quo vestra tendunt negotia. 

" Propter materise defectum, temporisque angustiam, plura 
non subjiciam. Errores reparcito. PIsecque omnia, 
Tui amantissimi, spectatissimi, 

et amicissimi commilitonis, 

RODOLPHUS ArESKIXE." 

Vale, 

Eod. Areskine Andrea? GuL 8." 

Datum Chirnsidi, 
Prid. Cat. Decern. 1701. 



544 



APPENDIX. 



No. II.— Page 31. 

The notices we have given of Scotish clergymen who flourish- 
ed at the beginning of the 18th century, and of their discourses, 
may be regarded by some readers as unnecessarily minute. To 
others they will probably prove acceptable ; and to gratify the 
curiosity of such individuals, a list of the names of most of the 
ministers whom Mr. Erskine heard in his youth, not mention- 
ed in the text, is here subjoined. 

The Rev. Messrs. Carstairs, Maclaren, Drysdale, Wilkie, and 
John Law, Edinburgh; "Walker of the Canongate ; Foster u of 
the Hospital ;" Smith, minister of the Castle ; Wishart of Leith ; 
Brown, Abercorn ; Hamilton, Cramond ; Campbell, Newbattle ; 
Semple, Liberton ; Bell, Gladsmuir ; AVilson, Maxton : Currie, 
Haddington; Brown, Abergowan ; Logan, Alloa; Gray, Dollar; 
Dalgleish, Dundee ; Foster, " Principal of the College St. An- 
drews ;" Dunning, Abernethy ; Gillespie, Strathmiglo; Ander- 
son, Falkland ; Brown, Aberdour ; Steedman, Beath ; Ward- 
rope, Ballingray ; Halyburton, Ceres. 

Also, Bain, Balantyne, Blair, Brand, Brodie, Buchanan, 
Chalmers, Davidson, Elphinston, Finlay, Fleming, Flint, Fris- 
kin, Grieve, Henderson, Innes, Kerr, Knox, Lyon, M* Murdoch, 
Monro, Oliver, Orr, Paterson, Randal, Sandilands, Scott, Stark, 
Trail, Williamson, Wilson. 



No. III.— Page 72. 

Mr. Erskine, in his letter to " Mrs. Mary Stuart," repeatedly 
alludes to the spiritual consolation with which she had been 
blessed. It may, therefore, be right to insert here, at least some 
extracts from an epistle previously addressed by that lady to a 
female friend, in which she gives an account of the delightful 
fellowship with God she had enjoyed at home, when detained 
in Providence from associating with her and others, in the pub- 
lic services of a communion Sabbath. This pleasant letter hav- 



APPENDIX. 



545 



ing been shown to Mr. Erskine, he transcribed it in one of his 
note -books, from which it is now copied. 

Letter— Mrs. Mary Stuart to Mrs. Anne Christie, Dunfermline. 
" My Dear Friend, 

" I thought it meet to write this to you, 
that so you and others of the Lord's children may be invited to 
praise and glorify Jesus for his wonderful goodness to me, a poor 
lost miserable sinner. You may know that it would not be very 
easy to me to think of what I was deprived of this day, even of 
joining with you in your solemn feast. But the Lord has made 
up my wants in giving me my communion at home this day. 
After I found that others were all gone to the church, you and 
the work in that place were carried in upon me with a great 
impression of your privilege beyond what I enjoyed ; and the 
Lord wonderfully pitied me in your behalf, and gave me a pro- 
mise that the great Master of assemblies would come down and 
feed among the lilies, and that all of you should be made to say, 
c It is good for us to be here.' 

[She proceeds, in a similar strain, to detail her requests at 
the throne of grace, for some serious individuals in the place of 
her residence, for the Church of Scotland, for the poor Jews, 
and for the suffering Protestants abroad, with the promises re- 
specting them severally, that were impressed on her heart, and 
afterwards she continues thus :] — u Then I was led to be exer- 
cised about my own particular circumstances ; whereupon the 
Lord carried in with marvellous power upon my soul, that sweet 
word, £ He that spared not his own Son, out delivered him up 
for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all 
things ?' Here I was led to inquire, what were these things 
that he freely gives us with Christ ; and the answer was, He 
will give grace and glory, no good thing will he withhold from 
you. Then I was made to inquire, what was that grace and 
glory that he freely gives with Christ ? I got a view of the 
grace that is freely given with Christ as distinguishing grace, 
which distinguished from the rest of the world ; as strengthening 
grace, which strengthened the soul for its work ; and, as con- 
quering grace, by which we should conquer and overcome all our 



546 



APPENDIX. 



spiritual enemies. And here I was made to triumph and say, 
c Thanks be to God who will give us the victory through our 
Lord Jesus Christ.' Again, I got a view of the glory that was 
to be freely given us with Christ, as a glory in time, whereby 
we should glory in the Lord, and glory in the name of Christ, 
and in the cross of Christ ; and also as that glory that was in- 
corruptible and that fadeth not away, the glory that dwells in 
Immanuel's land, never to have an end. O the sweetness I felt 
in this meditation ! It was as life from the dead to my soul. 
I was made to cry with the holy Apostle, O the height, the 
depth, the length, and the breadth of the love of God ! O 
how unsearchable his wisdom, and his ways past finding out ! 

" In the midst of all this, cursed unbelief led me to say with 
Thomas, c Except I shall see in his hand the print of the nails, 
and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.' I knew 
not well what to make of the Lord's work, nor how to improve 
it, till he dispelled all my clouds, and then I was made to cry 
with Thomas, c My Lord, and my God.' I was rejoiced with a 
view of God as a sun and shield ; and O what can disturb those 
who are thus privileged with having God for their God. Here 
I was made to invite sun, moon, and stars, and all things in 
heaven, on the earth, and in the sea, to unite in helping me to 
praise this great and glorious Jesus. And I write this to you, 
and all with you, who are friends of our common Lord and 
Saviour Jesus Christ, and who hope to be partakers of the com- 
mon salvation, to join in praise to our God ; for he is a great 
king, and is to be praised in the assemblies of his saints, and 
admired by all them that believe. 

" I take this as an answer to your prayers, who, I hope, have 
not been unmindful of me — Dear Anne, this has been a 
day of no small advantage to my soul. I am full of the conso- 
lations of the Spirit, though at first I could not receive them 
when given. I was just like a weary traveller in the dark 
night, wandering in the dark, and knew not where 1 was 
going : and, on a sudden, there shined a clear spiritual light 
about me, and I knew not whether to trust or follow that light 
or not. I was at a loss what to make of it, till our glorious High 
Priest came with that challenge, c Are the consolations of God 
small things with thee ?' and I was made to receive, feed upon, 



APPENDIX. 



547 



and rejoice in them, and praise Christ who purchased them. 
They are the first fruits of the ascension of Christ, even the 
outpouring of the Spirit, John xvi. 7- O the sweetness, the 
joy, the peace that Christ gives. When he comes in a word or 
in an ordinance, he makes all things new, and gives something 
of the experience of the spouse, when she says, 6 Ere ever I was 
aware, my soul made me like the chariots of Amminadib.' I 
hope to hear that you have found the truth of this. I should 
be glad to hear how all of you have been feasted with Christ in 
his own ordinances, where he displays his glory many times to 
his friends and followers. I desire a share in all your pravers. 
as one that stands much in need. 

Dunearn, July 21, 1714. Mary Stuart. 1 ' 



No. IV. Page 107. 

A certain causeless aspersion, connected with the affair of 
supplying the second charge of Dunfermline, has been thrown 
on the character of Mr. Ralph Erskine, which it would be 
wrong to pass over in silence. The late Sir Henry Moncreiff, 
in his Appendix to the Life of Dr e Erskine, represents the first 
ministers of the Secession as adopting views of the rights of the 
Christian people, widely different from those on which they ori- 
ginally acted ; and he refers to Mr. Erskine's presumed acquies- 
cence in a particular measure resorted to on that occasion, as 
a satisfactory evidence of the inconsistency alleged. 

cc There is a remarkable fact," says the Rev. Baronet, " which 
belongs to this period, and deserves to be mentioned. There 
had been a long dispute about the settlement of the second mi- 
nister of Dunfermline, already alluded to. It terminated at 
last in an application to the General Assembly of 1718, by the 
magistrates and council of the burgh, supported by the heritors 
and kirk-session of the parish, with the unanimous concurrence 
of the Presbytery, asking the Commission (after laying aside 
the presentee, Mr. Christie) to appoint, in the technical terms 
of the church courts, a Call to be moderated in favour of four 
candidates, whom they named, one of whom should be elected 



548 



APPENDIX. 



by the majority of the magistrates and town-council, the heri- 
tors, and elders of the parish. No mention whatever is made of 
heads of families, or of any other individuals in the parish, or 
even of their right to object to the candidate to be elected. 
And yet it is remarkable that this application was made, when 
Mr. Ralph Erskine, who was afterwards one of the heads of the 
Secession, was the first minister of Dunfermline ; and as the 
Presbytery, and so far as appears, the Kirk-Session were unani- 
mous^ must have had his special approbation and concurrence ; 
a fact which is by no means unimportant, when it is connected 
with the proceedings which took place after the year 1732.''* 

To discuss the general question relative to the sentiments re- 
specting the rights of the Christian people, held by many pious 
ministers of the Church of Scotland, during the first twenty 
years of the eighteenth century, as compared with the principles 
maintained by the seceding brethren at the commencement of 
the Secession, would not suit the limits of this note. We take 
the liberty to refer to the brief notice of this topic in the Life 
and Diary of Ebenezer Erskine, and, in particular, to Ebenezer's 
own remarks on it, Pp. 392 — 394. It gives us sincere pleasure, 
we will add, to find that, during the years that have passed since 
the publication of MoncreifFs Life of Dr. Erskine, the subject 
of patronage has undergone ample discussion ; and that among 
clergy and laity connected with the establishment, the disposi- 
tion to recognise the rights of the people in the choice of pastors 
has been rapidly increasing. 

It may be sufficient here to advert briefly to the case of Dun- 
fermline- In so far as appears from the extract produced, page 
105, from the records of Dunfermline Presbytery of date March 
19, 17 18, the application or petition in question to the General 
Assembly, contained no express mention of any but the magis- 
trates and town council, the heritors, and elders of the parish ; 
nor did it even explicitly refer to the people's right to object to 
the candidate to be elected. But, admitting all this, what is the 
legitimate conclusion ? Doth it follow that Mr. Erskine, with 
all the members of his session, and all the members of the Pres- 
bytery of Dunfermline, showed no regard whatever, on that oc- 



* Life of Dr. Erskine, p, 436, Note. 



APPENDIX: 



549 



casion, to the voice of the people, or that, lona fide, they consi 
dered them as possessing no title to take any part in calling a 
minister, or even to object to any candidate whom magistrates, 
heritors, and elders, might think proper to elect ? This is utter- 
ly incredible. They had not surely so completely lost sight of 
the doctrines avowed in the first and second Books of Discipline. 
How concise or defective soever the terms in which the petition 
was expressed, the very ground on which the petitioners proceed- 
ed in recommending the measure referred to, was the prospect 
of a result satisfactory to the people at large. Mr. Hogg of 
Carnock, and at least a majority of the other members of that 
Presbytery, it is well known, ranked among the most zealous ad- 
vocates for popular rights, and would never have sanctioned by 
their approval any representation or petition, which was under- 
stood to annihilate every title on the part of the people to be 
heard. The views by which they were actuated in the whole 
business regarding the settlement of Dunfermline, are abun- 
dantly clear from the extracts we have produced from their re- 
cords. When the presentation to Mr. Christie was laid on their 
table, the Presbytery, as we have seen, candidly stated to the 
heritors, that the law of patronage, which had lately been re- 
vived, was a grievous yoke, and that the Church of Scotland was 
using means to obtain its removal. When two members of 
Presbytery were appointed to visit the parish, they were to meet 
with the heritors, magistrates, town-council, elders, and people ; 
of Dunfermline. When the cause was carried by appeal to the 
Commission of Assembly, they instructed those members of Pres- 
bytery that belonged to the Commission, to state to that court, 
that a the Synod of Fife had expressly prohibited the presby- 
teries of their bounds to settle any parish with ministers, unless 
there be a harmonious consent of the people, as the foundation of 
a pastoral relation." Even after the Commission had appointed 
the translation of Mr. Christie to take place, the Presbytery de- 
murred. They received and read a representation subscribed 
not only by heritors, magistrates, and members of the town- 
council, but also by several hundreds of heads offamilies y express- 
ing their aversion to the settlement of Mr. Christie; and, in 
consequence, remitted the cause to the Commission. 

With respect to the views of the Presbytery generally, it is 
quite unnecessary to add a single svllable. As to Mr. Ralph 

2 A 



550 



APPENDIX. 



Erskine in particular, possessing a number of his manuscripts, 
though indeed no portion of his Diary written previously to the 
year 1/31, we are able to state the few following facts. 

In the year 1716, he transcribed in one of his own note-books, 
a sermon preached by his neighbour and intimate friend. Mr. 
Hogg of Carnock, bearing this title, u The right of Church-mem- 
bers to choose their own overseers, fairly stated from the Scrip- 
tures of truth, now drawn out at the desire of the hearers : being 
a discourse on Acts L 22, 23." This discourse, fully written 
out for the use of the hearers, and at their request, though per- 
haps never printed, clearly shows that the author strenuously 
maintained the jus divinum of the people. His reasonings and 
exhortations are concluded with this ardent aspiration ; u The 
Lord bring us back to the primitive institution ! and let all the 
sons of Zion say, Amen I" Mm Erskine's being at the trouble 
to write a copy of this discourse for himself, in a volume con- 
taining his own compositions, affords a presumptive yet satisfac- 
tory evidence, that its sentiments, even then, namely in 1716, 
received his cordial approbation. — Besides, in a copy which he 
preserved of a letter addressed to Colonel Erskine. relative to the 
procuring of a colleague, he expresses an earnest desire that the 
charge should not continue vacant, and begs the Colonel, whom 
he commends u as a man who loves to do service to the interest 
of Christ," to use his influence with some of the heritors to per- 
suade them to drop the appeal made to the Synod and Assembly, 
with their presentation in favour of Mr. Christie, and to give 
their countenance to a certain preacher whom it was " the creel 
and universal desire of the people" to have for their minister. 

These are his very words It is evident, in fine, that Mr. 

Erskine incurred the keen resentment of the heritors by resist- 
ing their design, on this precise ground, that 3Ir. Christie was 
not the object of the people's choice. In a corner of a page con- 
taining notes of the sermon he preached on a a week-day, N<m 
1717/' he has accordingly this memorandum: " That day I was 
libelled by the heritors at the Commission, not knowing any 
thing of it." 

These facts may serve to throw some light on the sentiments 
which Mr. Erskine, in common with a numerous class of the 
•Scotish Clergy of that age, had always held respecting" the im- 
portance of obtaining the call and consent of the Christian pea- 



APPENDIX. 



551 



pie, and the culpability, as well as inexpediency of committing 
the pastoral care of any congregation to a man, whom the ma- 
jority of the members of that congregation do not approve, and 
to whose inspection they are unwilling to submit. No impar- 
tial person will for a moment entertain the idea that Air. Ers- 
kine, after having acted the faithful part now stated with regard 
to Air. Christie, discovered so violent and sudden an inconsis- 
tency with himself, as to be straightway prepared to counten- 
ance, and even to solicit the settlement of another candidate, 
without the least regard to the call and inclination of the people. 
Any petition which he considered as involving an entire aban- 
donment of their rights, could by no means obtain his " special 
approbation and concurrence." Whatever respect, therefore, 
we cherish for the memory of the Eeverend Baronet, for whose 
talents and integrity we have always entertained a sincere es- 
teem, we must conclude, that the allegation in question is ut- 
terly groundless, and serves only to show that the understand, 
ing of the wise and the good may be warped by the power of 
prejudice. 



No, V Page 154, 

A private communication, sent by Mr. Erskine to a number 
of his friends, contained the following Scruples : — 

" Scruples about the Abjuration Oath, July, 17^9- ,5 

i( 1st. It is unprecedented ; and as no scriptural instance of 
any such oath occurs, it seems unsafe to walk in untrodden 
paths, where we see not the footsteps of the flock. 

2dly. By the claim of right, which is engrossed in the Union 
Act, we are freed from any other oath except a simple allegiance, 
and so may claim exemption from it as our privilege. And if it 
be said, this oath, is no more, or little more, than a simple alle- 
giance, then it would seem, that the act which enjoins the tak- 
ing of the simple allegiance with the same breath and at the 
same time, obliges to take God's name in vain. 

3dly. By the Union Act we are exempted from all impositions 



552 



APPENDIX. 



contrary to our principles, and therefore may lawfully refuse it. 
And that it is contrary to our Presbyterian principles, appears 
these ways. 1. In that we homologate the Union, whereby we 
are bound up from the Keformation of England. 2. In that we 
are engaged by it to maintain the present government, or the 
king, in the execution of the present laws, several of which are 
against our principles, as the patronage. 3. In that the penalty 
by which it is imposed, is a plain exercise of Erastian supremacy, 
whereto the swearer seems to consent. See Mr. JEbenezer 
Erskine' s print on the head.* 4. We consent that a yoke of 
bondage 1 e put upon the neck of our successors in office, and 
that all of them be kept back, or afflicted in their entrance, who 
want fre3dom for this oath, though the Lord has otherwise 
qualified them ; and so make way for the free entrance of knaves, 
who, designing only to get their bread, will not stick at any 
oath which the government can impose ; and by this means the 
ministry in a short time being sadly corrupted, neither doctrine, 
worship, discipline, nor government, will be long kept pure. 

4thly. By the oath we prelimit Providence, in swearing to a 
particular branch of the Royal Family, whereas we know not 
but a sovereign Lord, who puts down one and sets up another, 
may be pleased to make use of another branch of the family, and 
honour it to be his instrument in reformation. 

5thly. The reference to the Act which stumbled so many, 
materially still continues, seeing that it is not to an Utopian suc- 
cessor we swear, but such as is expressed and limited by the 
Act. 

6thly. I never knew one single person exercised to godliness, 

who loves the oath I mean private persons ; and therefore, I 

fear, it is not approven by the Lord himself, seeing it is a mat- 
ter of joy to none of his people, as we find good oaths have 
been. 

7thly. As it was designed by the Tory part of the Parliament 
in Queen Anne's reign to divide the Presbyterians, so it has 
exactly answered the design, and by separating from one ano- 
ther, has also alienated them from the Lord. And not only the 
first, but even this very draught has, and is likely to have, the 

* We have seen no copy of the Pamphlet by Mr, Ebenezer Erskine, here re- 
ferred to. 



APPENDIX. 



553 



same effects. So if we may judge of the cause by the effect, a 
heavy judgment must be passed on this oath. 

othly. It seems to oblige to what is most uncertain, even in 
the judgment of lawyers, namely, to discover treasons ; and so 
it cannot be the matter of an oath, which should be plain and 
obvious. 



No. VI.— Page 17L 

The Act of the Synod of Fife relating to the brethren accused 
of disobeying the injunction of Assembly, 17-0, with regard to 
the Marrow of 3iodern Divinity, has been slightly alluded to 
in the Life and Diary of Ebenezer Erskine, Pp. 170, 171- The 
substance of it also may be seen in Brown's Gospel Truth, p. 31. 
But the Act itself ] being a document somewhat curious and in- 
teresting, seems entitled to a place in this Appendix. We copy 
it from the Records of Kirkcaldy Presbytery, making no altera- 
tion except in the spelling of a few words ; — 

" Kirkcaldy, October 19, 1721. 
" There was given in to the Presbytery an extract of the 
Synod with regard to the form of sound words, which was read 
and ordered to be recorded, the tenor whereof follows : 

"At Cupar, the 28th September, 1721 years. 
" The Synod being met, the brethren appointed to present an 
Overture anent the irregularities of some ministers, reported 
the same was done, and should be road when the Synod ordered 
Whereupon the same was read, the tenor whereof follows : 

u Whereas the Synod of Fife had by their Act at Cupar, Sept. 
28th, 1710, enjoined all the members in their bounds, in their 
preaching, to observe the form of sound words — and the Gen- 
eral Assembly, in the year 1720, in their fifth Act anent the 
Marrow of Modern Divi?iit?/,* did strictly prohibit and discharge 
all the ministers of this Church, either by preaching, writing, 
or printing, to recommend the said book, or in discourse to say 
anything in favours of it, but. on the contrary, did thereby enjoin 
and require them to warn and exhort their people, in whose 
bounds the said book is, or may come, not to read or use the 
same : Yet it being represented to the Committee of Overtures 
yf this Synod, that some brethren within the bounds of this Sy* 



554 



APPENDIX, 



nod had contravened the said Act; to wit, Mr. James Bath- 
gate, minister of the Gospel at Orwell, by the vindicating 
publicly before the congregation the foresaid book, and some 
positions therein censured by the Assembly, and by recommend- 
ing the said book, and saying that the Assembly had condemned 
precious truths ; and further, by his venting positions not war- 
ranted by Scripture, nor agreeable to the form of sound words 
contained in our Confession of Faith and Catechisms : And 
that Mr. Ebexezer Erskixe, Minister of the Gospel at Port- 
moak, by his advancing in a public sermon, at a sacramental oc- 
casion, that the General Assembly had injured or wounded truth 
by their foresaid act; and also, Mr. Ralph Erskixe, Minister 
of the Gospel at Dunfermline, at the like solemn occasions, by his 
advancing tenets and usiDg expressions in favours of some of 
the doctrines in the Marrow censured by the said Act. 

u The Committee, where most of the members of Synod were 
present, having heard the said brethren upon the particulars 
which gave occasion to these reports — Mr. Ebexezer Ers- 
kixe answered before" the Synod, that what he said was : 8 A 
few brethren had presented a petition to the General Assembly 
in behalf of some truths, which they conceived to be wounded 
by a certain act of Assembly. ' And 3Ir. Ralph Erskixe 
answered, that he had always paid a dutiful respect to the au- 
thority of the judicatories of this church, and particularly to that 
of the General Assembly ; and, in testimony thereof, had never 
publicly recommended the Marrow since the act of Assembly 
1720 against it ; notwithstanding that his mind concerning that 
act is known ; nor was he ever resolved to vent himself publicly 
concerning those truths which he reckons condemned by that 
act, so long as that affair is in dependence, had he not been 
obliged thereto, by hearing that he and his brother subscribers 
were reproached and misrepresented on these accounts, as if 
they had been Antinomians, new schemers, and the like; and 
that he had indeed at public occasions preached some doctrines 
which are in terminis in the marrow; such as, that the believer 
is not under the law as a covenant of works, that he is neither 
under the commanding nor condemning power of the law as a 
covenant of works. Besides, that, to his knowledge, he had not 
meddled with any other doctrines in the Marrow, except such as 
are contained in the Representation given in to the Assembly with 



APPENDIX 



555 



his subscription ; which he had never yet seen ground to re- 
tract. 

u The Synod, upon report of said Committee, did and hereby 
do declare their high dissatisfaction with such practices ; and do 
strictly enjoin the said brethren, and all the ministers within 
this Synod, punctually to observe the foresaid acts of Synod and 
Assembly, with certification that the contraveners shall be cen- 
surable by their respective Presbyteries and this Synod, accord- 
ing to the demerit of their offence. And considering that it is 
peculiarly the duty of all the ministers of the gospel to contend 
earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints, and to main- 
tain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, they do there- 
fore recommend to all the brethren within this province, to ad- 
vert to any innovation in doctrine, or expressions^contrary to the 
form of sound words contained in the Scriptures and our Con- 
fessions of Faith and Catechisms, if any such should happen to 
be vented at sacraments or other occasions, and to any thing 
that may be contrary to the order and unity of this church ; and 
that they give faithful testimony, as they shall be called, against 
these evils — And the Synod further considering that by the 
fourth act of the Assembly 1720, it is appointed that the For- 
mula of commissions to the General Assembly shall bear this 
clause, to wit, e that the said Presbytery do hereby testify and 
declare, that all the ministers above named have signed the 
formula enjoined by the tenth act of Assembly 1 7 L 1 ; and see- 
ing many ministers of the Synod who have formerly subscribed 
the Confession of Faith before the said Formula was enacted, 
yet have not signed that formula ; and that the subscribing of 
the said formula by all the ministers of this province will be a 
fresh evidence and document of their zeal for, and adherence 
unto the doctrine, worship, discipline, and government of this 
church, and of their engagement to maintain and defend the 
same, and to follow no divisive courses contrary thereto : There- 
fore the Synod do hereby appoint all ministers in their bounds 
to sign the Confession of Faith with the said formula, in and 
before their respective Presbyteries, as soon as may be ; and to re- 
port their obedience hereunto at the meeting of this Synod in 
April next ; and they appoint their clerk without delay to send 
an extract hereof to each Presbytery, that the same may be 
read, and recorded in their books ; and that the said Presby- 



556 



APPENDIX. 



teries be careful, at their privy censures, to inquire how this 
present Act of Syn< d shall be observed. 

" Extracted by (Sic Subscribitur) And. Elliot, 

Clk Syn." 



No. VII.— Page 181. 

A calm and scriptural discussion of the points at issue in the 
Marrow Controversy would unquestionably be "seasonable" at 
the present moment. Whilst several important truths, which 
the twelve brethren maintained are impugned by some, and 
kept back by others, gross misconceptions regarding their na- 
ture and tendency prevail to a considerable extent. To justify 
this statement, it is , necessary only to notice the attempts that 
have been made to identify the sentiments held by these venera- 
ble men, with the tenets of a certain class of teachers that have 
recently appeared ; and to allude to the fact, that, in the pro- 
ceedings in the case of the Rev. John M. Campbell, late Minis- 
ter of Row, the General Assembly has unhappily impressed 
anew the seal of its approbation and authority on the highly 
objectionable Act of Assembly, 1720, relative to the Marrow of 
Modern Divinity. 

" W e are gratified, indeed," says a writer in the Edinburgh 
Theological Magazine,* " That the Assembly have censured 
certain dangerous errors ; but we regret that they have also 
wounded some precious truths. Mr. Campbell states, 6 1 do 
honestly believe that it is not the doctrine 1 have taught, that 
was that of the Marrow,' (Report of the Proceedings of the 
General Assembly in the case of the Rev. John M. Campbell, 
p. 62.) and what we regret is, that the Assembly, in condemn- 
ing Mr. Campbell's doctrine, have identified it with the doctrine 
that was taught in the Marrow, and materially renewed the Act 

* Vol. VII. for 1832, Pp. 246—257. " Remarks on the proceedings of the 
General Assembly in Mr. Campbell's case, particularly in respect to their 
charges against the Marrow of Modern Divinity." No signature is attached 
to this communication j but we are informed that it was prepared chiefly by 
the iate Rev. John Brown of Whitburn. 



APPENDIX. 557 

of 1720, by which, we apprehend several gospel truths were 
injured." 

It is not our purpose to enlarge ; but we refer with pleasure to 
the " Remarks" in the periodical just named, where the subject 
appears to be correctly, as well as somewhat fully explained. We 
must add, however, that the General Assembly would do hon- 
our to itself, and more successfully advance the cause of truth, 
were that venerable court to display a noble impartiality in the 
exercise of discipline. On this topic, let us hear the expostula- 
tions of a strenuous defender of the National Church. After 
extolling the firmness discovered with reference to the new doc- 
trines of the Irvine school, he justly deplores the lenity shown 
towards certain clergymen that hold livings in the Church of 
Scotland, who have published works in which they u openly 
deny the most important doctrines of her standards*" " We 
ask again," he continues, " why are such things tolerated ? 
Why does the Assembly say to one man, you teach doctrines 
subversive of the faith of the church, and we therefore tell you 
that you shall no longer minister at her altars ; while it says to 
others, you teach doctrines just as subversive of the faith of the 
Church, but we leave you to follow your career undisturbed. 
We are perfectly aware of the difference in the circumstances of 
the case, which accounts for, but, w r e think, by no means justi- 
fies this difference in their treatment. The Assembly owes a 
duty to itself, — to the church and to its glorious Head; and 
while it purges out one class of most destructive and soul destroy- 
ing heresies, it does well ; but while it tolerates another class of 
heresies differing from those wmich it condemns, in form and 
expression rather than in reality and substance, it is doing what 
we, who rank among the warmest of its admirers, not only 
shrink from defending, but will lose no opportunity of denoun- 
cing as an errci, — an evil of enormous magnitude." — Christian 
Instructor for 1832. Vol. i. New Series, P. 543. 



No. VIII.— Page 212. 

We have nowhere met with the letter which 31r. Wilson of 



558 



APPENDIX. 



Perth wrote to Mr. Mair of Orwell, relative to Mr. Ralph 
Erskine's scruples with respect to Secession. We have had the 
satisfaction, however, to find among Mr. Erskine's manuscripts 
a copy, written by himself, of the letter Mr. Moncrieff addressed 
to Mr. Mair on the same topic. It is along, friendly, and faith- 
ful epistle, exhibiting a remarkable specimen of the writer's char- 
acteristical ardour and decision. In its statements and reason- 
ings, it bears a close resemblance to those which may be seen 
still more at large in the First and Second Testimonies, emitted 
by the Associate Presbytery. The whole letter will be readily 
forwarded to any friend, who has resolved, or may yet resolve, 
to publish a Memoir of Mr. Moncrieff. In the mean while, 
let it suffice to lay before the reader a few sentences at the be- 
ginning, from which he can easily judge of its spirit and tenor, 
and of the zeal and energy with which that good man attempted, 
and not without effect, to solve the doubts, and overcome the 
scruples, of a more cautious and hesitating brother : 

Mr. Moncrieff to Mr. Mair y January 29, 1737. 
" Rev. and Dear Brother, 

I was refreshed with a letter of 
yours to my brother Mr. Wilson, communicated to me last Tues- 
day in the evening. And particularly, it is matter of praise, 
that as the Lord has taught you, and led you on from step to 
step, so he holds you up, and keeps you from losing your feet, 
by giving you views of the indignity done our highest Lord, 
Immanuel, in his person, truths, cause, crown, and members, 
and gives you some sweet breathing for the day of the flourish- 
ing of the crown upon his head.— He likewise did communicate 
to me a letter to you from our Reverend and worthy brother 
Mr. Erskine. I would fain hope that the Lord will break up 
his way. He is clear in the point of testifying, and of adhering to 
the testimony. The judicatories are clear for rejecting the tes- 
timony, and for burying the testimony ; witness the conduct of 
the Commission in August. The consequence is plain and ob- 
vious, that if he will contribute his endeavours to support the 
testimony, he must join those who are clear for the testimony, 
and are endeavouring, by all proper means, to advance the ends 
and design of the testimony. May I be allowed, with all defer- 
ence to my worthy brother, to say it, — his letter, in the who 



APPENDIX. 



559 



of it from first to last, goes oft the state of the question to con- 
sequences. But let us, in the Lord's strength, essay pre- 
sent duty, and depend on the wisdom, power, and faithful- 
ness of a promising God, to provide for all consequences. We 
may justly look upon all the worthy men in Scotland as our 
colleagues, seeing the flock of Christ is one. Yet the word of God, 
the circumstances of the flock and heritage of God, the providen- 
ces of our times, and the call and command of the Chief Shep- 
herd are to direct our steps, and not the mistakes of good men. 
If the witnesses are few, we may lament the blindness and neu- 
trality we have all of us been so deeply intrenched into for these 
years past, which has had no small hand in it ; and if we miss an 
opportunity of joining onr endeavours to have a banner displayed 
for truth, and a standard fitted up for the people, I am afraid 
we be accessary to it, that none witness for his cause any more, 
and that there be an universal consent that the Lord depart out 
of our coasts. Obedience is better than sacrifice, and to hearken 
than the fat of rams. To give one faithful conscientious testi- 
mony to " Him that loved us, and washed us in his own blood,' in 
a day when all men forsake him, is more valuable in itself, when 
the Lord calls to it ; and even if consequences are considered, 
they maybe far more considerable, — than if we should preach to 
seven thousand people, seventy thousand times." 



No. IX Page 275. 

The Mr. Hepburn in the South of Scotland, whose people, 
with other societies there, had placed themselves under the in- 
spection of the Associate Presbytery, was no doubt the Rev. 
John Hepburn of L T rr in Galloway, whom some have styled 
" the morning star of the Secession." A zealous and uncom- 
promising Presbyterian, he became noted alike for the public tes- 
timony he bore against the defects of the Revolution-settle- 
ment, and for the severities, as well civil as ecclesiastical, which 
he, in consequence, sustained. Having received private ordina- 
tion in London, he exercised his ministry among the people of 
Urr from 1680 till a short time after the Revolution, when he 
was called to that parish, and installed with all the legal forma- 



560 



APPENDIX. 



lities. He was suspended by the Assembly in January 1696, 
and because he continued to preach in defiance of its authority, 
he was summoned by the Privy Council in summer that year to 
answer a libel, and imprisoned in the tolbooth of Edinburgh. 
Though liberated after the expiry of several months, he was not 
allowed to return to his parish, or receive his stipend till three 
years had elapsed. In April 1705, the Assembly deposed him ; 
and though he was reponed in August 1707? yet, from consci- 
entious scruples, he finally ceased to attend the ecclesiastical 
courts. Owing to the countenance he gave to the Rev. James 
Gilchrist and John Taylor, who were deposed soon after the ac- 
cession of George I., he suffered new hardships. For some in- 
teresting particulars, respecting this resolute and worthy minis- 
ter, see Struthers' History of Scotland, vol. i. Books 1st and 
3d ; and a pamphlet published 1723, consisting chiefly of a 
letter addressed to his son, the Rev. John Hepburn of Torrie- 
burn, entitled, " The last testimony of the reverend, pious, and 
faithful servant of Christ, Mr. John Hepburn, late Minister of 
the Gospel, at Urr in Galloway, who died March 20th, 1723." 



No. X.— Page 386. 

The anecdote relative to Mr.Ebenezer Erskine's exclamation, 
when he received the affecting intelligence of his brother's 
death, has been caricatured by one of those adventurous writers, 
who do not hesitate to entertain the giddy, at the expense of 
any one whom they choose to hold up to ridicule as " excessive- 
ly pious." The distortion referred to occurs in a passage of a 
late publication, where the author, professing to give some ac- 
count of Dunfermline, endeavours to amuse his readers with a 
number of embellished stories relating to Mr. Ralph Erskine, 
The whole group may be fairly judged of, from the specimen 
which the course of our narrative has led us to notice. — u It is 
remembered," says the writer, " of Ralph Erskine, that on a 
servant coming to the door to inform him of the death of his 
brother, the minister of Stirling, he exclaimed, Ah Yeben, Ye- 
ben! (Ebenezer was his brother's name,) ye've won to heaven be- 
fore me ; but I'll no be lang ahint ye, lad. (A Picture of Scot- 



APPENDIX. 



561 



land by Roi>ert Chambers, author of Traditions of Edinburgh, 
Vol. ii. pp. 176, 117, note.) 

; At that period, it is true, the conversational language of well- 
educated Scotsmen was characterized by great simplicity, and by 
a strong predilection for the peculiarities of their vernacular 
tongue. Yet what credit can be due to this ludicrous account 
of the exclamation in question, when the most essential circum- 
stance is so erroneously stated ? Ralph Erskine never had oc- 
casion for uttering any such words as those imputed to him ; for 
his brother Ebenezer survived him more than a year and seven 
months. 



No. XL— Page 398. 

The texts of Scripture, which Mr. Erskine has noted in his 
Study Bible as " sweet and useful to my soul," are in part only 
referred to, and in part cited at length. The following is a 
complete list of them, which may probably prove interesting to 
our readers : — 

a Gen. iii. 15. Job xiii. 15. Psalms ii. 8; xxiv. 8; xl. 
17 ; lvii. 2, 3 ; lxxxv. 10 ; xci. 4 ; cix. 21 ; cxviii. 15 ; cxix. 114 ; 
cxlii. 5 ; cxliii. 10. Isaiah xxx. 18 ; xlii. 4 ; xliii. 25 ; xlv. 24. 
Bos. xii. 4—6. Rom. xv. 12. 1 Cor. i. 30. Heb. vii. 25. 
I John i. 7 ; ii. 1 ; Rev. v. 6." 

The blank leaves of this Bible exhibit also a variety oi re- 
marks, partly in prose, and partly in verse, — some of them in 
English and others in Latin ; inserted, without doubt, for the 
purpose of familiarizing them to his mind. Of these, the reader 
will accept what follows as a specimen : — 

u There are two hundred and sixty places quoted out of the 
Old Testament into the New." 

" In all thy actions and intentions see, 
That God thy Alpha and Omega be." 
" Forgive me all the errors of my life, 
And save from all the terrors of my death." 
" Nemo patet coelum, nisi per te 5 Christe Redemptor ; A te 
vera salus, non aliunde, venit." 

[No one is admitted to heaven but through thee, O Christ, 



562 



APPENDIX. 



the Redeemer ; from thee, and from none else, salvation and 
true happiness come.] 

" Ut tua pertingat penetretque prcecatio ccelum, 
Corde sit ex puro, sit brevis, atque frequens." 
[If you wish your prayers to pierce the sky and reach heaven, 
see that they proceed from a pure heart, that they be short, and 
he frequent.] 

" Nihil infelicius felicitate peccantum. 
" Nothing more unhappy than the happiness of sinners. No 
blindness like a blind understanding ; no chain like an obsti- 
nate will." 

" Ardeat orator, qui vult accendere plehem." 
[The orator who desires to inflame the people, must himself 
be flaming.] 

In the last blank page his name, K Ralph Erskine," appears 
on the one side, and the following quotation from the Greek 
Testament on the other : 

TLccvra zai h Katfi Xp/tfrog. 
[Christ is all, and in all.] 

The late Dr. Husband, to whom this Bibie for some time be- 
longed, has testified his regard for its original owner, by copy- 
ing on one of its pages that beautiful encomium in verse, which 
has been exhibited in this volume, page 481. 

We have learned from Dr. Gibb, that soon after Mr. Ers- 
kine's death, this copy of the Scriptures was presented by Mrs 
Erskine to Miss Wardlaw, half-sister to the Rev. James Ward- 
law ; that she gave it to himself, (Dr. Gibb,) and that he made 
a present of it to Dr. Husband. Agreeably to the following 
notice prefixed on a blank page at the beginning, it is now, 
from the kindness of the Doctor's son, the property of a Session 
in Dunfermline, connected with the United Secession Church. 

ir ' This Bible, which first belonged to the Rev. Ralph Erskine, 
and afterwards to the Rev. James Husband, D.D., is presented 
to the Rev. Robert Brown and the Session of St. Margaret's 
Church, by 

JAMES HUSBAND." 

Dunfermline, Feb. 1823. 

To this account, possibly too minute, of Mr. Erskine's small 
octavo Bible, it may be added, that a large folio Bible, which he 
made use of in the pulpit, still exists in a state of excellent pre- 



APPENDIX. 



563 



servation, and is considered as belonging to the .Minister and 
Session of Queen Anne Street Church. 



No. XII.— Page 493. 

The author of the cc History of the Scottish Church, Rotter- 
dam," has favoured the writer of these memoirs with some fur- 
ther particulars relative to the Dutch translation of the Works 
of Ebenezer and Ralph Erskine. In a letter of date, c< Rotter- 
dam, September 3, 1832, ,, this estimable clergyman expresses 
himself as follows : — 

Ci Almost every discourse written by the Erskines has not 
only been converted into the language of Holland, but has gone 
through many editions, in some cases six. Knowing, as I did, 
that great piety and earnestness pervade the whole of their com- 
positions, and that not a few of the sermons were distinguished 
by uncommon ingenuity and knowledge of human nature, it did 
not at all astonish me to meet with a Dutch translation of some 
of Ebenezer and Ralph's treatises. But I must say I was both 
surprised and pleased to discover, that our Batavian friends had 
encouraged the Rotterdam publishers to print again and again 
all the prosaic Works of the Erskines. With the exception of the 
last two volumes, the work was mostly translated by Mr. John 
Ross, a member of the Scottish Church in Rotterdam ; and I 
have reason to think that he was encouraged in this and similar 
undertakings, by one of my able and worthy predecessors, Dr. 
Hugh Eexxedt. 

Ci With regard to the fidelity of the Dutch version, I can 
speak favourably, having myself carefully compared several of 
the discourses with the original. Mr. Ross, conformably to the 
practice, once not uncommon in Holland and Britain, procured 
some friend to write complimentary verses to more than one of 
the sermons ; but the most important addition to the labours of 
the translator, is the aid which he obtained from two of the na- 
tive clergy, who kindly wrote preliminary dissertations, largely 
analyzing and commending the particular volume. 

u The two Dutch ministers, just alluded to, were Messrs 
Theodore Van dee Gboe and George Hogexdorp. 



564 



APPENDIX. 



The former born Sept. 3, 1705, became pastor of Rhynzater- 
woude in 1730, and ten years afterwards, of Kralingen. where 
he died June 24, 1784. Mr. Hogendorp, after holding for a 
time the parochial charge of Cortgeen. was translated to and es- 
tablished at Zierikzee, Nor. 1759. He was declared Emeritus 
by the States of Zealand in 1790, and died within three years 
after his retirement from public life. Messrs. Van der Groe and 
Hogendorp were faithful and useful ministers of the gospel, and 
I have heard several old Christians often speak with pleasure of 
the popularity and excellent talents of the two Divines, of whom 
I have given you this brief notice." 

\Te have now only to state, that owing to the liberality of a 
certain individual, the twelve volumes, comprising the whole of 
the two Erskines' discourses in Dutch, now occupy a place as an 
object of curicsity if not utility, in the Library for Students in 
Theology, under the inspection of the United Associate Synod. 



No. XIII.— Page 528. 

The Latin inscription on the stone ec mmemorative of 3Ir. 
Erskine's sister Margaret, and the five deceased children of his 
tirst family is as follows ; a few words being omitted, which it 
was difficult to decipher. 

i; Sub spe beata? resurrectionis in Domino Jesu Christo Re- 
demptore, hie exuviae Margarita Erskixe, nonis Octobris 
1713 denatae, item Elizabeths, Jax^e, Helex^e, Rachel- 
is, et natu niortua? Christiaxje . . . Qua? sex, ilia in 
juventute, ha? in infantia, ha?c in partu diem obiere ; ergra 

. • • . Iraterni, has et hanc, paterni amoris tesseram, 
Magr. Radolphus Erskixe, Pastor Fermilo-dunensis, cip- 
pum hunc caedendum curavit, an. 1728. 

Dulce mihi Christo vivere, dulce mori !*' 



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